Diana Penty reveals being dropped by Imtiaz Ali from Rockstar

Bollywood actress Diana Penty is currently basking in the reactions of her latest movie, Detective Sherdill, which released today. The film, also starring Diljit Dosanjh, is an OTT-only release. It`s well-known that Diana began her career as a model before she made her Bollywood debut alongside Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone in the 2012 film Cocktail. In a recent interview, Diana recalled how she first auditioned for filmmaker Imtiaz Ali`s superhit film Rockstar. However, he dropped her after 2–3 weeks of workshops.

Diana Penty on being approached for Rockstar

In a recent interview with Hauterrfly, Diana recalled how she was first approached to play the lead role in Rockstar before making her debut in Cocktail. She recalled, “I was in New York, modelling, and I got a call from my agency. They told me Imtiaz Ali was looking for a new girl for his film Rockstar and that I must meet him. Films were never on my radar, and I had never taken formal training in acting. I never had the confidence that I could be an actor one day. I never believed that I would ever be able to pull it off. So I flew back for the meeting. At the first meeting, I was like, ‘Wow, he is such a nice person.’”

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Diana Penty (@dianapenty)

The Detective Sherdil actress reveals that Imtiaz was kind and made her comfortable enough that she could freely talk to him. When the Jab We Met director asked for look tests and explained the character to her, the actress recalls telling him that she didn’t have any acting background and that she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to do justice to the role. However, she says, Imtiaz encouraged her to attend workshops, and told her that he’d take a decision after 2–3 weeks.

Diana Penty reveals Imtiaz Ali rejected her

Diana then added, “After 2–3 weeks, he said, ‘Look, I can see you have come a long way and I’ve seen a lot of improvement, but I still don’t feel you are ready to play the character in Rockstar. Maybe it is too soon for you.’” He was also going to shoot it in a month or so, and felt that I wasn’t ready at the time. I was kind of relieved because I didn’t feel confident. So I went back to New York and continued with my modelling.”

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Diana Penty (@dianapenty)

The actress further reveals how, just a year later, she received a call informing her that Dinesh Vijan was looking for a new face. She later found out that the script for Cocktail had been written by Imtiaz Ali, who remembered her and suggested that she would be a perfect fit for the character of Meera in the film. She also shared how she received a confirmation call within 24 hours of her audition, which landed her debut role in Cocktail, and the rest is history.

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