Actor Diana Penty is riding high on the success of her latest film Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran, in which she stars opposite John Abraham. Depicting the second nuclear tests of India, the storyline and the performances in the thriller have been appreciated by critics and fan alike.
Diana, who completes six years in Bollywood in July [her debut film Cocktail released in the same month in 2012], recalls how the journey has been so far. “It’s been a good one, with ups and downs. I am happy [with] where I am today, and the people I have got a chance to work with have been beautiful. I have formed great equations, but there’s so much more to do. I want to be able to work more than one film in an year,” says the actor who has acted in films including Happy Bhag Jayegi (2016) and Lucknow Central (2017).
As a newcomer earlier, Diana says that she was bombarded with a lot of advice by different people. “People will give hazaar advice,” she says, adding, “If you follow the advice people give you, you [only] reach confusion. You have to decide for yourself, and come to the conclusion on your own. I have grown to understand what makes me tick, what doesn’t. When I read film scripts now, I know I need to listen to my gut, because at the end of the day, that’s what got me here. I don’t want to do a film just because people said [I should].”
{{/usCountry}}As a newcomer earlier, Diana says that she was bombarded with a lot of advice by different people. “People will give hazaar advice,” she says, adding, “If you follow the advice people give you, you [only] reach confusion. You have to decide for yourself, and come to the conclusion on your own. I have grown to understand what makes me tick, what doesn’t. When I read film scripts now, I know I need to listen to my gut, because at the end of the day, that’s what got me here. I don’t want to do a film just because people said [I should].”
{{/usCountry}}When Cocktail released, Diana was hailed as ‘the next big thing’. However, it took her four years to come out with her second film, Happy Bhag Jaayegi. Asked how easy it was adjusting to this rat-race of Bollywood, where being in the limelight is essential, and fates change every Friday, Diana says, “It’s human nature, you accept it. I truly don’t believe in these tags of commercial, mainstream, or art. It doesn’t matter what the cinema is, but the storyline does. I think the heart and soul lies in the story, everything comes later, even the performances. It should be a story you should want to go and watch in theatres as an audience. That’s why it took me longer to do the number of films I did.”
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