For Parmanu actress Diana Penty, it is a constant battle between giving in to the temptation of doing more movies to stay visible or signing projects she believes in.
Diana, who has done four films in eight years, began her stint in Bollywood in 2010 with the commercially successful Cocktail alongside Deepika Padukone and Saif Ali Khan. Nearly four years later, she went on to star in Aanand L. Rai’s sleeper hit Happy Bhag Jayegi.
Looking back at her Bollywood journey so far, Diana told PTI that the four-year gap between her first two films made her feel the industry had forgotten her. Asked if she ever had the fear of being forgotten, she said: “I think it actually happened with me — the time that I took between Cocktail and Happy Bhag Jayegi, a lot of people told me, ‘out of sight is out of mind’, and I was like ‘Okay, maybe’.
“And it did happen. Because I wasn’t around, people just assumed I was doing other things and was not interested in films which I thought was unfair. But at the same time, you realise, that’s how it works, it’s human nature. And it is true, there is this fear,” she added.
She admitted that there are times she is concerned about the slow pace of her career, but then her intention towards choosing a project kicks in. “Sometimes you wake up with mini panic attacks where you feel like ‘Oh my God! I don’t have a film right now! Should I just do something that comes my way because I don’t have another film’? But I feel at the end of the day, your gut takes over. I have never been able to go against my instinct.”
Along with this conflict, there are also moments when Diana feels she should make active attempts to be seen more so that she still seems relevant to people that matter. But her idea of visibility is different from those actors who make more news with their “airport appearances” than through the movies they do. “If you are a complete hermit, sometimes it is difficult for people to (remember you). It’s very natural for, maybe, a filmmaker to not think of you because you are not in the radar. You are not seen, you are not in the paper, you are not seen online. So they tend to forget about you. But I don’t think you need to bombard yourself and suddenly be everywhere at the same time either.”
Diana said it is about the balance and what is more important is the visibility through one’s films. “That’s quality visibility, because someone, who watches your film and enjoys your performance, will think of you. The impact that you can leave on the other person through your films holds way more weight than just being seen at a party or any other appearance, or being seen at a freaking airport.”
On Parmanu- The Story of Pokhran, her latest release, Diana said she found it extremely engaging at the script level and believed it would be a great story to be brought on screen. “I was flipping through the pages because I wanted to know what happens next. It kept me on the edge of my seat even at the script level. That’s rare.”
