Diana Penty says she was dropped from Rockstar after workshops, later bagged Cocktail
Actor Diana Penty was initially approached for 'Rockstar' (2011) before the role ultimately went to her contemporary Nargis Fakhri. She was speaking in an interview when she said she had even started training for the Imtiaz Ali directorial but was dropped after two to three weeks of workshops. Interestingly, the role went to Diana when she was still working as a model and had not done any film.advertisementThe 39-year-old was in a conversation with Hauterfly when she shared how she landed her first film 'Cocktail' (2012). She recalled her early days in the industry and said, "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."Diana admitted films were never on her radar as she had never taken any formal training in acting. She said, "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." This is when the director encouraged her to attend workshops, she shared.
"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," reminisced Diana. She added that the shooting was about to begin in a month or so, and even she felt that she wasn't ready. "I was kind of relieved because I didn't feel confident. So I went back to New York and continued with my modelling," she shared.advertisementA year later, Diana received a call for 'Cocktail' and got to know the script of the film was written by Imtiaz. Interestingly, it was Imtiaz who suggested 'Cocktail' director Dinesh Vijan that she would be perfect for the role of Meera. She also remembered receiving a confirmation call just 24 hours after her audition. 'Cocktail' went on to become the biggest film of Diana Penty's career. The film, a love triangle featuring Diana, Deepika Padukone and Saif Ali Khan, was a massive box office hit and garnered critical acclaim.
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