There were a lot of pretty women in cinema around Audrey Hepburn's time, but she stood out because she had a very interesting personality - which went beyond her looks. She did so much for women, for animal rights, for children's education - it's always the personality that comes through and makes one seem beautiful.
I don't even mind playing a bimbo or a silly girl, as long as it isn't stereotyped and there's a reason for that character to be part of the story.
I feel, at times, women in India go beyond their comfort zone just to clad the trend, and that automatically becomes a faux pas. If you are not comfortable with something, please don't wear it.
There is always going to be depth and layers to people and that's what interests me in a character: when there is some problem to overcome, when there is a complication to understand in a person.
When your private life has been dragged into public space, you tend to attain a zen-like composure.
Women are not a doormat. We are equivalent to men. It is just that we have different bodies and different biological needs.
Theatre is more metaphorical where you have to be louder and larger than life, whereas film is more subtle and more real.
I like social media, as it cuts out the middleman. You can be yourself, you can't be misquoted, and it's also useful for me to get information about my theatre shows across to people.
We don't expect someone in a bikini to stand up for women's rights; we only expect a girl in an 'NGO outfit' to speak about it. It's as much as the right of the girl in the bikini to talk about it as a woman in a kurta. We need to embrace that multiplicity.
Of course, people have tried to stereotype me... But it's very short-lived if you realise that you're only as new as your newest film... You have to look beyond the period of initial reactions and recognise that there's a bigger body of work and an effort to do something bigger.
When I was studying in London, I worked part-time as a waitress. I was teaching drama to kids. I did a lot of odd jobs to pay for my studies.
People like Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut are really paving the way for successful women.
It's only over time that you get to exploring or adding nuances to the character. Like my part in 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' - I am so not the person who wears high heels and totters about like a poodle.
You wouldn't believe how many people have told me that I need to fix my teeth or that I need to restructure my jawline.
At home, my parents were quite old, so the surrounding was of elder people. There was no noise. Reading books was encouraged; TV was not encouraged, so I was the geeky, studious type of girl.
What makes us really human is it's in the presence of death that we start valuing life.
