Dia Mirza's performance in Apoorva Lakhia's Shoot Out At Lokhandwala, as a deglamourised, no-nonsense news reporter modelled on Mintty Tejpal, who covered the real encounter in Lokhandwala 20 years ago, is fetching her rave reports.

It is Dia's first film shorn of all make-up. In Shoot Out At Lokhandwala she play a serious, socially aware woman who doesn't want to attract attention to her physicality.

She's a woman in a man's world, so she wants her work to be the focus of her personality.

To equip herself well for this more realistic phase in her career, Dia now leaves for the US to sharpen her acting skills.

"I'm off to New York to do a seven-day workshop in acting at the New York University. It's very important for every actor to renew and refurbish one's skills."

She returns to play a pivotal character in Sanjay Gupta's Alibaug.