Richa Chadha on Dia Mirza’s troll, says critics ‘can threaten a 5 year old child’
Richa Chadha defends Dia Mirza after a podcast clip about her son Avyaan sparked online trolling. His response focused on the backlash, criticism of the five-year-old child, and Dia’s environmental advocacy.
Actress Richa Chadha has supported Dia Mirza after she was trolled online over a podcast clip in which she talked about her five-year-old son. Avyan objects to coconut water Being distributed in plastic bags. The clip from Soha Ali Khan’s podcast went viral, with many social media users criticizing Dia and her son and calling the incident ‘entitled arrogance’.
❮❯
Amid the backlash, Richa posted a lengthy note on X on Thursday, arguing that the criticism reflects a wider pattern of online hostility towards public figures who speak out on social issues. He also questioned why actors are often discouraged from expressing their views, saying that the reaction itself explains why many prefer to remain silent.
Reposting a user’s note, Richa wrote, “You wonder why actors don’t speak up? (Damned if you do, damned if you don’t!) Apart from the regular debates by the usual, brain-dead suspects, there’s also this! Of course punch up yaar, what about the mental health of actors. It should be an actor’s duty to commit suicide every day and feed obscene news cycles (about the mental health of actors) What? They need to channel the news cycles properly?) Privileged women will be embarrassed if anything is said outside of lipstick, bikini, GRWM, etc.
Richa then turned to criticism directed specifically at Dia’s environmental advocacy. Referring to claims on social media that Dia allegedly talks about sustainability while keeping a Jaguar, Richa dismissed the allegation and instead highlighted the actor’s work on climate-related initiatives.
He further added, “Just for your information, @deespeak is associated with a bamboo paper company, (this means no trees are cut to make the paper), and without it, a plastic recycling start up that makes very nice sunglasses. She has also made a beautiful short film on climate, Busted, screening in Mumbai tomorrow on 3.07.26. Check these things out, because if you bully a 5 year old You can even run a basic Google search.”
He cited personal examples of Dia’s environmental commitments, saying the actor has influenced his own approach towards sustainability, while also dismissing claims that Dia owns a luxury Jaguar. Richa argued that even if public figures are imperfect, it should not affect the work they do.
In another part of the note, Richa wrote, “She gifted me 1100 trees as a wedding gift and when my own baby girl was born she inspired me to gift trees to the press in return. See the pictures? She doesn’t have a Jaguar LOL, I have only seen 2 electric cars. And if she was imperfect in the past, oh God, please forgive her Dear Merciful God, show mercy! Diya in a day More for ecological restoration People who want to do good in the world do so at great personal cost, compared to the YT bloggers (who may well give Perez Hilton a run for his money) because today, right now, the most important thing is to embarrass them.
What did Diya actually say?
The online criticism stemmed from an anecdote that Dia shared during her appearance on Soha Ali Khan’s podcast while discussing how environmental awareness is encouraged in her home.
She said, “The coconut vendor delivered coconuts and nothing makes my blood burn more than coconut water coming in plastic bags with plastic straws. So this boy, poor guy, he didn’t know who he was delivering to. So Avyan opened the door and he puts his hands on his hips and says, ‘Bhaiya, he brought it in plastic, plastic is not allowed in our house, you take him out of the plastic, put him down and take the plastic and the straw. Go away (Why have you got it in plastic? Plastic is not allowed in our house, put it down and take away the plastic).”
The story received appreciation from Soha Ali Khan, who praised the child’s confidence in expressing his concerns.
Responding to an anecdote on the podcast, Soha praised Avyan and said, “Imagine standing in front of someone who is an adult and has that conviction.”
This episode also comes just weeks after Dia’s comments Linking climate change to patriarchy A debate broke out online. In those comments, he argued that both stemmed from systems focused on extraction and domination rather than care and balance.
Last month, Dia also talked about climate change in her remarks, which sparked discussion on social media. He stated that climate change and patriarchy are deeply linked, and linked both issues to systems that value extraction over care, dominance over dominance, and short-term profit over long-term well-being.
Richa’s defense has now shifted the conversation away from the viral podcast clip to the nature of online criticism of public figures, especially when they speak out about environmental or social causes. It has also drawn renewed attention to Dia’s environmental work, which Richa has repeatedly cited when defending herself against accusations of hypocrisy.