Took Me A While To Find My Feet In Bollywood: Diana Penty

Now as Happy Phir Bhag Jayegi — which also features Sonakshi Sinha — gears up for release next month, Diana feels excited about how the film industry has been going through a ‘remarkable’ change for women in the last couple of years.

‘Women are playing more and more central characters and what’s even more encouraging is that the audience is beginning to appreciate women centric films – whether it’s Tanu Weds Manu, Piku, Queen, or Happy Bhag Jayegi. All these are stories centred around female characters and they all did well at the box office.

‘So it definitely is an exciting time for women in films, with so many options of roles and genres of films to experiment with.’

She also notes a change in the stories themselves.

‘They’re evolving and becoming more real – from biopics to stories inspired by true events or even slice of life films. Of course, there will continue to be the out-and-out commercial entertainers as well. Those will always do well and for good reason.

‘After all, who wouldn’t want to watch a light, funny film at the end of a long day? But what’s great is that there is now a healthy balance between both kinds of cinema, which gives the audience a wider range of films to choose from.’