My parents always asked me what I thought, listened to my opinions, articulated their diagnoses of our challenges at home and abroad, and shared their ideas for how to build a more equal and prosperous country. I always felt part of their call to serve and part of my father's journey.
When I go to movies and I love the movie, it's because it feels like it articulated something about how we're living now, and also gives me some insight into my own life. I feel actually altered after having seen it.
Coming from a very inarticulate family made me try to speak for those who can't express themselves and created a need for articulation at its most ceremonial - poetry.
When we came into the studio I became more and more me, making the tracks and choosing the musicians, partly because a great deal of the time during Bridge, Artie wasn't there.
I don't have stylistic loyalty. That's why people perceive me changing all the time. But there is a real continuity in my subject matter. As an artist of artifice, I do believe I have more integrity than any one of my contemporaries.
Femininity in general is seen as frivolous. People often say feminine people are doing 'the most,' meaning that to don a dress, heels, lipstick and big hair is artifice, fake, and a distraction. But I knew even as a teenager that my femininity was more than just adornments: they were extensions of me, enabling me to express myself and my identity.
When I get back with band, the lights, and the whole production, that's me with the full artillery. A quick radio performance keeps me sharp for the big show.
Our artillery has really been sensational. For once we have enough of something and at the right time. Officers tell me they actually have more guns than they know what to do with.
My reputation was built on hostility. I had no friends and some very virulent enemies in the old-guard art scene when I began. They threw their heavy artillery against me. They were convinced I was perverting the public taste.
I'm very lucky that I can walk on the stage before anyone in the world. And that's the thing: you've got to be pretty confident to go on after me. You've got to have the artillery, as I call it. And the artillery is your songs.
For me, it is always part of my holiday to go and work my way along the shelf in the local artisan bakery with its breads, savoury tartlets, pastries and cakes. It is soul food: one of those things that tells you about a place and the history of a place and its people.
When I met David Green at film school he always used to offer free haircuts - he was kind of an artisan. In a lot of our films, he's constantly trying to give me weird looks.
It is probably like an artist. They see in their head what they want to draw, and they draw it. It is like I have a feeling inside me that I want to create on a horse, and that is what I do.
I am honestly very intimidated when I meet new people and they expect me to be the onscreen Vir. On stage, I say a lot of things I might never say in real life; I am never the life of the party. People are quite surprised to see that I am more of a quiet artiste off stage.
Please don't compare me with Taher Shah. He is a joker, while I am an artiste - I am a model and an actress. Taher Shah comes, makes people laugh, and goes away. I work with a lot of honesty.
As a musician, I know that it'll take time for me to get to the ranks of an established artiste. Nevertheless, I'm very happy that people are appreciating my music.
Playing my music to fans and people enjoying it is what matters; that makes me happy as an artiste. If you start worrying about awards, you will lose your creativity.
In the beginning, it was quite challenging because I had zero acting experience, and delivering dialogues was the most difficult thing for me to do. But after I began to act, I grew as an artiste.
In 'Haraamkhor,' I have explored a few things which I wouldn't have been able to do in bigger films. The process of shooting this film was so organic that it enhanced me as an actor and an artiste.
People expect comedy from me but I am not just a stand-up comedian anymore. I act on stage, host 'Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa' and also conduct interviews on my show. I have grown as a person and an artiste.
