Dia Mirza looks like an angel, and though she's not a very good actress, she's definitely not as bad as the likes of Katrina Kaif, Shraddha Kapoor either, and they have achieved far more success than her. I feel she fits into the heroine ideal more than most actresses her contemporaries. The doll-like looks, the sweet and angelic vibe, the pristine beauty and the absolutely cute persona offscreen -- all of these combined should have been enough to give her a longer lease at the box-office. The Indian audience has always been enamoured more by looks than acting anyways and Dia was the prettiest debutante in the early 2000's.
Do you think she deserved more love from the audience?
Kat is a non-actor but she has charisma in spades and a real X factor. That's the only thing that matters, I think more than even good looks.
That also explains Priyanka's early career- considering Dia was a 1000x prettier when they both started out
Also I think Dia had a spate of bad luck and bad choices after RHTDM. I read that she fell out with the producer Bhagnani and then she was dropped from a bunch of his films. So maybe she didn't have that killer instinct like PC? But she seems happy with her choices and shes created a different niche for herself so good on her!
Dia was bland despite being pretty. I never found her that great looking either ... something was amiss, I just can't pinpoint what. I liked her in RHTDM and Deewanapan but the rest of the movies were forgettable.
Oh, I found Dia and Amrita to be the prettiest actresses of the 2000's before Deepika and Sonam debuted. They both had such a sweet, angelic vibe. Amrita had more screen presence than Dia, though.
Dia has always been a pretty face who can't act. She doesn't even have any X factor like Katrina, which will click with the audience. To sum it up, she's got more than her due.