Though Dia Mirza was born and raised in Hyderabad, it’s only after 20 years in the industry that she will make her debut in the Telugu film industry with Wild Dog. The film sees her sharing screen space with Nagarjuna. “I have been getting Telugu film offers since I was 16. I said no to them because they just didn’t call out to me, but when I was approached for this project, I connected with it. I have always wanted to work with Nagarjuna sir, and I was really excited that I was finally getting to do that,” says the actress, who celebrated her birthday yesterday.

Knowing the language made the job easier. Dia shares, “I had learnt Telugu in school, so I can read, write and speak the language. It all came back when I started shooting for this film.” In recent times, the lines between regional cinema and Hindi films seem to be blurring with many collaborations between filmmakers and actors in both the industries on the anvil. “I think that as artistes, we should be open to working in any language as long as we connect with the story. I hope I can do a lot more regional cinema, because I think there’s a lot of interesting work happening there,” she says.

Though in her Telugu debut we will see her opposite Nagarjuna for the first time, she had interacted with the South superstar many years ago. Dia says, “When I was a little girl, I had met him a few times as his sister was a family friend. The last time that I had met him before we started shooting was when I had visited their home 18 years ago. He remembered that interaction, and Amala, his wife, had updated him about all that I had been up to. So, when we met this time around, he asked me a lot of questions about the environment, climate action, and all the stuff that I have been doing.”

Impressed with his massive fan-following and down-to-earth attitude, she says, “I have to say that Nag sir is a true star. I haven’t met a more grounded and earnest human being. He has such a huge fan following, but he is such a simple human being. It’s so wonderful to interact and work with him. It’s nice to see that he doesn’t allow this level of fandom to get to him.”