PNS | HYDERABAD
Born and raised in a very close but large family in the city of Hyderabad, Diana Hayden looks back at her childhood memories spent in Hyderabad with immense affection. It was Mumbai’s glamour industry where she got her first break! Immediately after that, she dropped out of school at St. Ann’s High School and worked odd jobs to make a name for herself. She had never set out to become a model in the first place. Let alone that she won the beauty pageant! Presently, she divides her time between acting and supporting charities in her birthplace, Hyderabad.
Very outstandingly, she’s called the beauty queen across the world. However, she hates being called a beauty queen. She informed us, “I hate being called a beauty queen — unfortunately, it comes with the title. My personal life is dearer to me than my career. I try as much as I can to keep my personal life very private because it would be the last thing for me to become the headlines of a newspaper. Days can get horrible; you wake up in the morning reading nasty stuff about you!”
She never tried to overcome any stereotypes because, in a flash, she didn’t care! She explained, “When I won Miss World, offers were pouring in from everywhere. I was coming from a background of managing pop singers and acting in the Hindi film industry, which back then was a rough and tough job to do for an actress. My instincts made me comfortable in the corporate world. And when I went to London, I got offers from the West too due to my appearance at Cannes. I continued to turn down the offers.”
But something struck her, and she joined a short acting course while receiving excellent remarks. She took this up very seriously — enrolled herself in the Drama School of London and bagged a Shakespeare film in South Africa. “I realised I wouldn’t say no to the Hindi film industry anymore. Started with a guest appearance! The sets are organised in the most disorganised way. I remember just before the shot, my dialogues were changed, and newer ones were written resting against the wall on a piece of paper. The director goes, “Here you go, these are your new lines!” That threw me off my chair; I was used to doing rehearsals before delivering a scene,” shared Diana.
Describing her childhood, she recalled, “I grew up in a huge extended family in Hyderabad. My mother came from a family of eleven siblings, so she learned her lesson. But we were like thirty cousins! Every weekend, there were birthday celebrations. Was a riot! My Sundays in Hyderabad were festive. I even remember riding bikes and playing kabaddi around my locality, which was near Secunderabad. I was a complete tomboy. I had to either play harder and faster or play with the dolls. I chose the former because of my brother!”
She was winning Bible prizes in St. Ann’s High School, and a little bit of the influence of her educational days started to get consumed in her. She paid a visit to church every morning, although she doesn’t consider herself to be a religious woman. Very active in Bible classes! “My philosophies have changed. We just have different names for God; that’s it. Have your values right! I decided to leave Hyderabad not for fame or fortune but for the quest of hunger in me. At the age of fourteen years old, I was working odd jobs in Hyderabad and quit studying for a reason. My parents separated! A receptionist, a telephone operator, sold “attar” in bulk because, in those times, it was trending in Hyderabad markets. I was feeling weird as a woman; the markets were rough and horrible in those days for us. So this job only lasted for fifteen days for me.”
She had never watched Pageants! She was somebody who walked in stores wearing a pair of jeans mixed and matched with an XXL shirt, never glancing into the mirror. “I was coming from a very good-looking family already — light eyes and light skin. I was called the skinny black bitch whenever any of my aunts were upset with me in the joint family I was living in the city of Hyderabad. My aunts and cousins were so gorgeous! So even after winning Miss World, I never felt beautiful because I was brimming with the ideology that beautiful only means having fair skin, and I didn’t,” she recalled.
All said and done, she speaks well, is confident, and is scared of nothing! That always gave this Hyderabadi girl an edge and made her so well-liked in our city.
