Post by : Meena Ariff

Filmmaker and choreographer Farah Khan recently visited actor Diana Penty’s ancestral Mumbai residence and was visibly impressed. The family property, approaching a century in age, holds deep historical and sentimental value for Diana and her relatives. During the informal house tour, Farah repeatedly remarked on the estate’s scale and character, at one point drawing a playful comparison to Shah Rukh Khan’s famed home, Mannat.

The walk-through formed part of Farah’s personal vlog series, in which she casually explores celebrity homes. She arrived with her cook, Dilip, and was greeted warmly by Diana and her mother, who led the visitors through the spacious rooms.

Diana explained that the house has sheltered four generations of her family. Constructed in her great-grandfather’s era — roughly one hundred years ago — the property has been carefully maintained and continues to stand out amid Mumbai’s changing skyline. Its colonial-era design is evident in the high ceilings, grand arches, hefty wooden doors and period furnishings that have endured across decades.

Stepping inside, Farah said she felt transported to an earlier time. She asked for a full tour and paused at a carved wooden table topped by an antique mirror to inquire about its age. Diana’s mother replied that the piece was over a century old, prompting Farah to joke about being pleased to find things older than herself.

The tour progressed to the kitchen, which Farah described as “amazing.” She turned to her cook and asked whether he had ever seen a home like this, and he modestly admitted he had not. Diana mentioned she also has a farm outside the city, to which Farah observed that the house didn’t read like a typical Mumbai dwelling but belonged to a different world entirely.

Inside, the interiors marry traditional workmanship with a lived-in warmth: colonial-style seating, wide windows that flood rooms with light, a verdant verandah and patterned floor tiles. Family heirlooms and collected artifacts appear in every corner, including a notable wooden carousel-like object reportedly presented to Diana’s grandfather after World War II.

One of the tour’s standout moments came when Farah compared the spacious living area to Shah Rukh Khan’s Mannat. She quipped that even a dance studio in Lokhandwala wouldn’t match the room’s size and suggested it rivalled Mannat’s living room in scale.

Diana laughed and demurred, calling her home modest, while Farah insisted the remark was a compliment and playfully proposed inviting Shah Rukh over — an idea Diana warmly received.

In a city where heritage buildings are increasingly replaced by contemporary developments, Diana’s home offers a tangible link to Mumbai’s colonial past. Unlike many modern celebrity residences focused on new designs, this property embodies continuity, nostalgia and family traditions preserved over generations.

Details such as a plant-lined verandah opening onto a rare central-Mumbai garden, soft pastel walls and enduring wooden frames contribute to the house’s serene atmosphere. The preservation of these elements underscores the house’s emotional resonance for the family and its rarity within the neighbourhood.

For Farah’s vlog viewers, the episode served as a reflective tribute to the city’s architectural legacy — a contrast to the sleek, contemporary homes that typically feature in celebrity tours.

Beyond her home’s history, Diana Penty continues to maintain an active acting career. She debuted in Cocktail alongside Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone and has appeared in films such as Happy Bhag Jayegi, Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran, Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi and Salute. More recently she featured in Detective Sherdil with Diljit Dosanjh, Boman Irani, Chunky Panday and Banita Sandhu, and she appeared in the Amazon Prime Video series Do You Wanna Partner, released on September 12, which also stars Tamannaah Bhatia and Neeraj Kabi.

Farah Khan’s visit offered viewers a rare look inside a lovingly preserved family home. Her off-the-cuff likening of the property to Mannat highlighted both its architectural charm and the sentimental value it holds — turning the segment into a wider reflection on legacy, preservation and the enduring appeal of Mumbai’s heritage houses.

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