Dia Mirza celebrates 25 years of Miss Asia Pacific victory with iconic throwback pic featuring Shah Rukh Khan

Dia Mirza took to Instagram on Thursday to share a series of nostalgic photos from her time in the Miss India pageant in 2000.

Dia Mirza recently shared a heartwarming throwback image from her 2000 Miss Asia Pacific International win, which was followed by her triumph at Femina Miss India Asia Pacific that same year. As she celebrates the 25th anniversary of this incredible achievement, fans are delighted to see her in the company of fellow beauty queens Sushmita Sen, Priyanka Chopra, and Lara Dutta in the picture.

Dia Mirza took to Instagram on Thursday to share a series of nostalgic photos from her time in the Miss India pageant in 2000. One of the images captured her posing with fellow contestants Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta, alongside former pageant winners like Sushmita Sen, Aishwarya Rai, and Diana Hayden.

In another heartwarming photo, Dia is seen kissing Lara on the cheek. The last picture features Dia, Lara, and Priyanka sharing a moment with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. She penned a long note in the caption that read, "Throwing it back to the beginning of a new millennium. 15th of January 2000. The Femina Miss India Contest was a truly grand spectacle! We had the most amazing women participating from across the country. Each of them has gone on to create their own unique story."

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She further praised the judge panel as she wrote, "We had the most iconic judges - Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Anjoli Ela Menon, Carolina Harera, Marcus Swarovski, Pritish Nandy, Mohammed Azharuddin and Waheeda Rehman. The beautiful Malaika Arora and Rahul Khanna hosted the event. A spectacular set was designed by Omung Kumar. Hemant Trivedi and Nayanika Chatterjee mentored us and choreographed the show. Bharat And Doris Godambe did our hair and make up. Pradeep Guha and Satya Saran ensured each of us received the training necessary to help us shine in our individual light. All the previous winners descended on stage and made our winning moments even more special."

"The photoshoot with Shahrukh Khan right after our win happened backstage. What a moment of wonderment for a completely awestruck Hyderabadi who grew up adoring him with all my heart! The cover shot is evidence," she continued.

Dia also reminisced the final questioned asked to her in the contest. "The final question that lead to the win for Lara, Priyanka and me was “If you were the policeman in the garden of Eden, who would punish for the first sin. Adam, Eve or the serpent?” My answer was unusual, I have no idea how I even thought of it with a one minute timer ticking loudly as we framed our responses and wrote them down. I think I said, “I would not punish any of them. For if they had not sinned, we would not be on this Earth today.” What answer would you have given?" the post read.

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While concluding the post, Dia Mirza also expressed her admiration for Priyanka and Lara. "Time flies. Each of us has evolved and found our own way of making sense of our time on Earth. We have lost some people who were a part of this life changing moment.. but their influence and impact has surely shaped our lives. It’s been 25 years since this paradigm shift. And I am grateful for it. Thank you @timesofindia @feminaindia. @larabhupathi @priyankachopra I love and admire you both. We went on to make history that year by winning all 3 international titles."

Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, and Dia Mirza created history by winning the Miss World, the Miss Universe, and the Miss Asia Pacific International pageants, respectively, in the same year, 2000. Meanwhile on the work front, Dia was last seen in the critically acclaimed film Dhak Dhak.