Dia (film)

Dia Swaroop, an introverted biotechnology college student who lives in Bengaluru, has a crush on Rohit. She does not express her feelings for him before he moves out of the country. Three years later, Dia encounters Rohit in Mumbai, where she has moved and is now working. The two gradually begin to develop a bond, and Rohit proposes his love for her. One night, as they are returning home from a movie, they get into an accident after a car hits them. When Dia wakes up in the hospital and asks for Rohit, her father's friend tells her that Rohit has died. Unable to accept Rohit's death, Dia becomes severely depressed and leaves to Bengaluru, where she decides to kill herself at a railway crossing. Facing an oncoming train, she is interrupted by a phone call from Adi, who has retrieved Dia's bag from a thief. Annoyed, she tells him to keep it and not to call her again. Dia and Adi then run into one another several times, and Dia reveals her past to him. Adi charms Dia out of her depression; they become friends and eventually fall in love.

Dia returns to Mumbai, where she is shocked to find Rohit waiting for her. Rohit explains that he was declared brain dead, and that it was uncertain that he would regain consciousness, causing her father to tell his friend to lie to her with the hope that she would move on. Dia calls Adi and tells him that Rohit is alive. Adi, heartbroken, tells Dia that she should be happy with Rohit. Despite his mother forbidding him to see Dia, Adi goes to see her one last time. He finds Dia disheartened and Rohit happy, wishes them well and returns home. While away, Adi's mother has died from a heart attack, and he learns that she could have been saved had someone been there. Meanwhile, Dia confesses her college love, how she thought he died and how she met Adi to Rohit. A distressed Rohit tells her to return to Adi so that she will be happy. Elated, Dia goes to Adi's home and finds an auto driver who tells her that he is missing. She and the driver search for him until another auto driver reveals that Adi has gone to the railroad crossing where she attempted to kill herself. Adi has decided to kill himself at the railway crossing because he feels immense guilt over his mother's death and believes that he will be unable to live without his mother and Dia. He prays to God one last time for Dia's happiness and waits for the train. Dia reaches him and calls out; Adi turns to her, surprised, and is hit by a train as a startled Dia watches.

K. S. Ashoka initially worked on this film's script before making his directorial debut with the low budget horror film 6-5=2 (2013) but left the film due to budget constraints.^[6] Production for the film officially started in 2016.^[7] The film featured then newcomers Kushee Ravi, Pruthvi Ambaar, and Dheekshith Shetty, who went on to star in various other works prior to the film's release.^[6][8][9]

Ashoka broke up every dialogue of the film into svaras.^[10] The film was shot at various places in Karnataka including Bangalore, Karwar, Mangalore, and Udupi District (Kapu and Padukere Beach) apart from Hyderabad and Mumbai.^[11][12]

B. Ajaneesh Loknath composed Dia's score. Ashoka decided to use an instrumental score with no songs, similar to European romance films.^[13] The film was promoted with a song, "Soul of Dia" due to the producer's demand although Ashoka was against using songs since he wanted to break the stereotype that every Indian romantic film has to have songs.^[14][6]

Reviewing Dia for The Times of India, Sunayana Suresh gave the film four out of five stars, praising the realism of the story, the three main performances, the cinematography, and the score. Suresh noted that the story centers on the external and internal experiences and dialogues of the eponymous female protagonist. Suresh said that "the film is for those who want to experience cinema in a brave new style sans the commercial staples".^[1] In a review for The Hindu, S. Shiva Kumar praised the direction, acting, writing and score, but criticised the conclusion as abrupt. Kumar said: "The acting is first-rate particularly Kushee and Pruvthvi. Pavithra Lokesh is all grace and poise in a beautifully written role".^[15]

In the Deccan Herald, Vivek M V praised the direction, score, and Shetty and Ambar's acting, while criticising the plot as predictable, as well as Kushee's performance.^[16] Asianet News, on the other hand, praised Kushee, as well as the screenplay, but noted that the beginning was slow.^[17] For The New Indian Express, A. Sharadhaa rated the film four out of five stars, praising the screenplay, direction, performances, music and cinematography. Sharadhaa said: "With a skillfully told love story - one that is not generic - the director creates a unique kind of euphoria with heartbreaks".^[18] Manoj Kumar R., also writing for The New Indian Express, said that although the film's title is "dia" (transl. lamp), the film is "dark, gloomy and a tragedy of errors".^[19]

After Dia's success, it was re-released on 14 February 2021.^[12] It was initially supposed to re-release on 23 October 2020 with the new version reported to include the song "Soul of Dia" and have a different climax.^[25] It was also released on Amazon Prime.^[26] It was remade in Telugu as Dear Megha (2021),^[27] in Hindi as Dear Dia (2022) and in Marathi as Sari (2023). Both the Hindi and Marathi remakes were directed by Ashoka and featured Ambaar reprising his role of Adi.^[28][29]