Director Sabbir Khan calls Diana Penty an underrated talent

On Thursday, filmmaker Sabbir Khan shared several looks of Diana Penty from his film on Instagram, writing: "MARY MATTHEWS. My team thought I was crazy when I asked for someone 'mysterious.' How do you find an actor who looks mysterious? Truth be told, I didn’t know either."

Mumbai: Filmmaker Sabbir Khan has talked about how he found his mysterious character Mary Matthews for “Adbhut” in Diana Penty, whom he said is such an untapped, underrated actor.

The filmmaker on Thursday took to Instagram, where he shared several looks of Diana from the film and wrote: “MARY MATTHEWS. My team thought I was bonkers when I said find me someone mysterious. How does one find an actor that looked mysterious. Truth be told neither did I.”

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He realised he had to find someone and then hone that aspect of the character.

“As luck and doom scrolling would have it I chanced upon an image of Diana and BANG something clicked. The mysterious part was down pat,” he wrote.

“But apart from the broad stroke of being mysterious, Mary’s character was intense, strong and resilient … for me the character was an onion that you’d have to peel as the screenplay unfolded.”

Heaping praise on the actress, Sabbir said: “Interacting with Diana was always a pleasure she’s someone who conducts herself with so much poise, professionalism and warmth in equal measure. We also realised its a small world and we have a Devlali connection.”

He said that he wants to see more of Diana on screen.

“Diana was a sponge through the entire process, absorbing the written word and our conversations to output Mary Matthews fantastically. She’s such an untapped, underrated actor and I as a filmmaker want to see so much more of her,” he wrote.

“Adbhut” is an upcoming supernatural horror film, which also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and Shreya Dhanwanthary. The film is scheduled to premiere directly on OTT on 15 September.

Sabbir made his directorial debut with Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor Khan-starrer “Kambakkht Ishq” in 2009. He then made “Heropanti”, “Baaghi”, “Munna Michael” and “Nikamma”.