Diana Penty recalls being catcalled and elbowed in Mumbai trains during her college days: ‘It would scare me'

Hindustan Times

21-06-2025

Actor Diana Penty recently opened up about how she was catcalled while travelling to college by local train. In an interview with Hauterrfly, the actor revealed how people used to elbow her during her commute and recalled facing body-shaming for being too skinny. (Also Read: Imtiaz Ali dropped Diana Penty from Ranbir Kapoor's Rockstar after 3 weeks of workshop; actor says 'he felt I wasn't…') Diana Penty recalls facing body shaming for being too skinny.
When asked whether she had ever been touched inappropriately while travelling on a bus or in a crowd, Diana said, "I think every girl in Bombay has gone through this. To go to college, St Xavier's, I used to take the train—the central line from Byculla to VT—and then walk to college. There's catcalling, and people try to elbow you. It became a part of daily life. I was a very shy, underconfident, conscious and awkward girl. I would go into a shell. It would scare me. I didn't have the confidence to elbow back."
Diana also recalled that from the time she was a child up until around six or seven years ago, she was skinny and faced body-shaming. "It scarred me. You're a child, and if people keep telling you, 'Oh, you're so skinny, you don't eat?' And some aunties would go up to my mother and say this. She used to get so irritated—like why wouldn't I feed my child? As a child, you start becoming conscious of the fact that you're too skinny. It was awful."
She shared that her mother once took her to a paediatric dietician, who advised her to feed Diana six bananas a day—though she only managed four—and still, nothing changed. Diana revealed that she has spent her life trying to gain weight and not be as skinny. She recalled that she didn't use to wear sleeveless clothes and would keep layering up to fit in with others. Diana Penty's recent and upcoming films
Diana is currently seen in the movie Detective Sherdil, which also stars Diljit Dosanjh, Boman Irani, Chunky Panday, and Banita Sandhu in lead roles. The film is available to stream on ZEE5. She will next be seen in Section 84, which also stars Amitabh Bachchan and Nimrat Kaur in lead roles. The release date for the film is yet to be announced.