Diana Penty's kickboxing moves for Parmanu left her sore for days

The actor chats with us on learning martial arts for the role and how to survive a sandstorm
Diana Penty's kickboxing moves for Parmanu left her sore for days


Diana Penty has traded in her high heels for army boots. Well, temporarily that is. The model and actor will be seen in the biggest release of her career next month with Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran, based on the nuclear bomb test explosions conducted by the Indian Army in 1998. Incidentally, the movie directed by Abhishek Sharma was slated for a December release last year, but was postponed so as not to clash with Padmaavat

Shot in Rajasthan with co-star John Abraham, expect to see a side of Diana in stark contrast to the happy-go-lucky girl we’ve seen on the runway and on TV commercials. “My character is a strong woman in a very male dominated mission,” says the actor who plays an army officer in the film. Hailing from an army background herself, Diana recalls, “I was already familiar with that kind of environment. My grandfather was an army officer so I spent a lot of time in cantonments. In fact, one of the first things he taught me as a child was how to salute.”

<em>Promo still from Parmanu</em>
Promo still from Parmanu

In preparation for her role, Diana who just turned 32 a few months ago had to add several gruelling sessions of martial arts to her regular workout routine of weight training and pilates. And the starlet who you may remember made her debut in back in 2012 with Cocktail, admits it was not easy, “I learnt kickboxing for some scenes and those kicks — went really high. If you haven’t done it before — you’ll feel muscles in your body that you’ve probably never felt in your life!” To push past the aches and pains, she also watched plenty of films with women in combat roles, we’re told, like Angelina Jolie’s Salt and Zero Dark Thirty

We asked Diana later if any of her lethal kicks were directed toward hunky co-star John Abraham in the film, and though she remains tight lipped on the story line, she responded with a laugh, “A couple!”
Ironically, at the time of this phone interview, the actor had just launched the Gigi Hadid x Maybelline New York Collection in Mumbai, so our conversation veers from martial arts to her favourite fiber mascara in the collection. “It adds that extra volume to your lashes which is great and there’s plenty more to choose from in the collection colour-wise, from the nudes to browns to the more pop colours like red,” she switches gears with ease. But even as we speak beauty, Diana hints that her modelling days are likely to be behind her soon as she focuses more attention on her acting career in 2018. “I think it comes down to eventually picking one or the other,” says the actor, who says that she prefers immersing herself in a single project rather than juggling several at the same time. Currently shooting the sequel, Happy Bhag Jayegi Returns, she shares with us candidly, “With modelling, I’ve done everything I want to do — so now I am happy to move on.”

Parmanu releases in theatres on February 23.
 

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