Diana PEnty opens up about 'Lucknow Central' and more...

Essaying the character of Gayatri Kashyap, Diana Penty can be seen in an all new avatar in Farhan AKhtar's Lucknow Central. Being a social worker in a male dominated world of convicts and jail authorities was a mental challenge for the actress. Talking about the same, Diana said “NGO workers have a lot of dedication and passion that I had to bring to my performance. It's a misconception that it's voluntary work so it doesn't require any qualifications. Social workers like Gayatri are well-versed in sociology, psychology and criminal behaviour”.

The role of Gayatri Kashyap was first offered to Kriti Sanon, who walked out after the prep. Fire fighting the situation, producer Nikkhil Advani then called Diana, who immediately said yes to the film after a reading with director Ranjit Tiwari. “I didn't think about who was offered the film before me, I'm grateful I landed a part I felt strongly about. It worked out well for everybody” she added.

When asked about the long break after her debut in Cocktail (2012), Diana responded by saying “It's funny when people ask me if I was on a break. Even between shooting the two, I had two-three months of prep. I didn't want to end up playing Meera again and again, with a different name but in a same film set-up. I don't chase numbers, my choices are quality driven. I didn't want to just sign stuff, it's not my style“.

Quiz her on her co-star and she says, “During the shoot, I noticed just how real and subtle Farhan is. He underplayed his character just right. It was an interesting learning experience to watch him and other talented actors like Ronit Roy, Gippy Grewal, Inaamulhaq and Deepak Dobriyal, who were receptive to each other.”