‘Nice to portray a strong woman’

Diana Penty on playing an army officer, patriotism and women-centric films

Action mode: The actor learnt kick-boxing for the role

Diana Penty is befittingly attired — in an olive-green jumpsuit — to discuss her role as an army officer in the forthcoming Parmanu: the story of Pokhran , that will release this Friday. Alluding to the controversy the film has faced recently she says,“I am just happy that the film is finally releasing.”

Penty says that it was a passion for patriotic films that made her sign on for Parmanu . She feels that the nuclear tests of May 11, 1998 changed the way other countries perceived India. The actor proudly declares, “People do not know what exactly happened in Pokhran. It is amazing to be able to tell a story that defines our history.”

Parmanu as Penty claims is a faithful recreation of events, “The director, Abhishek Sharma and actor-producer John Abraham have given importance to facts and detailing and made sure that the movie is not dramatised.” She adds that though the movie is based on true events, the characters are fictional owing to security reasons. She says that her role as Captain Ambalika is “strong and “cool”, being the only woman in the mission. Quite proud of her choice to work in the film, she asserts, “It is nice to play a strong female character in a predominantly male film.”

Penty talks about the exhausting sessions that were part of her training prior to shooting the film. “Apart from my general fitness regime, I learned kick-boxing in order to prepare for the film.” Chuckling about her “semi-action” role in

Parmanu that according to her, does not last for more than a few seconds she says, “I had never done martial arts before, and keeping myself fit was challenging.”

The actor believes that women should do more action-oriented films. “There should be more films like Mardaani where women play the sole lead character,” she states. Starting off pretty much like the timid Meera that she played in Cocktail , Penty admits to having become tougher now. “This is what we are here for, to experiment and push the boundaries,” she asserts while signing off.