Remember the innocent Meera from the movie Cocktail and how the audience fell in love with the newcomer on the block — Diana Penty — for portraying the character so beautifully and simplistically. The actress makes a comeback on the silver screen after a gap of four years with Happy Bhag Jayegi. In the capital to promote her upcoming film the model-turned-actress speaks about her film, her four-year long break, trolls and more.
After an impressive debut in Cocktail, the audience thought that Diana would be spoilt for choices for her next project. But unlike most of her contemporaries, Diana waited for the right scripts to come her way. She says, “I was very much here, meeting people and reading scripts but nothing really clicked.”
She continues, “I know it’s perceived that if you are out of sight, you are out of mind but that is not the case with me. I was travelling and looking for the right script. I took a little longer than expected but that is how I am as a person. I am not impulsive; I like to think through my decisions before taking any step.”
Her character in forthcoming film Happy Bhag Jayegi is completely different from her real-life persona, and playing that was a challenge. “Happy (her character’s name) is not very close to what I am in real life. She is loud, wears her heart on her sleeve and is very feisty. In that respect, I am not like that,” shares Diana and adds, “However, there are some similarities too — Happy is stubborn, independent and brave, I have these traits too. The character is a mix of both. I loved the entire experience as I play a typical Amritsari girl who speaks her mind.”
The model-turned-actress further said that she speaks fluent Hindi but it’s not shuddh Hindi. She had to work on her Punjabi diction and accent to get into the character. “It’s not that I do not know how to speak Hindi. I have a lot of Mumbaiyya influence. In films, we speak shuddh Hindi, so like for every character, I worked on my diction and language. It’s an ongoing process for every actor to work on the language to get into the skin of the character. I did spend a few months preparing myself for the role.”
Asked how she prepared for the role of a character who runs from her marriage, Diana says, “I didn’t practice at all. I used to run a lot in school. However, it has been a long time.”
Acting for her is an organic process, wherein she gets to play numerous characters, portray their characteristics without having to take the baggage of ‘hell and heaven’. She says, “There is something special about being an actor and able to bring somebody’s visualisation — director, storywriter and script writer — into life. It is almost like creating a person. It is interesting how we take the character from the beginning to the end, such that the audience can relate and feel it.”
These days, a lot of people are being victims to body shaming and online trolling. Condemning the act, Diana says, “Every woman is beautiful in her own way and I don’t know why people have norms and ideas on how beauty is perceived. I would like all the trolls to look at their bodies instead of trolling others. What is ironic is the fact that it is easy to criticise sitting behind your computer, in complete anonymity, about other people. on the basis of their appearances but very difficult to introspect and look within themselves.”
