I was very insecure at the beginning of my career. I didn’t value my talent. I would have probably skipped signing up for movies that I didn’t want to do if I had understood that I had been accepted and people liked my work.

Even after ‘Gangster’ being a success, I was considered a B-grade actress and was a sidekick, even though I was good at what I did, and was jobless for two years.

If you work with big stars, then they become the lead actors. It’s not that I don’t want to do films with big stars, but I would rather do the films where I get the title roles.

My man has to be more intelligent than I am, which is difficult to find. He should definitely be more successful than me, which is not so difficult to find. I’d be a fool to expect a better looking man than me, which is impossible to find.

When I left my home to become an actress, my father didn’t give me a single penny. I struggled a lot, and they had no idea what I went through. My grandfather even asked me to drop my surname when he learnt I was joining films.

My ancestors are Rajputs from Jaipur, a lineage of the royal family.

I had no work after ‘Gangster’ for two years, and my sister Rangoli met with an accident that destroyed her looks. My struggle with my parents combined with the industry not accepting me made me feel alienated.

My father is a businessman, and my mother is a schoolteacher.

I think there are things that you look for when you’re younger, and you think they are going to make you happier or make you feel complete. That’s not going to happen, and it’s really about living the moments. Eventually, you reach a point when you’re at ease with your life and don’t have any...

My parents wanted me to be a doctor. So I took up science, but then realised that my heart was not in it at all. The thought of treating ailing people was very depressing.

Ever since I was a child, I would start crying seeing anyone in pain.

I come from a middle class family, and my parents weren’t too supportive of my career choices.

I come from Surajpur, a valley in Himachal Pradesh near Manali that is named after my great grandfather Sarju Singh Ranaut.

I cannot approach someone; I lack the confidence when it comes to the guy I desire. I’m very good when it comes to matchmaking and hooking others up. But I can’t help my own cause.

My biggest asset is that I know how to learn, and that, I believe, will help me in the long run.

I don’t know why everyone feels the pressure to look young. Personally, I hate it. I don’t want to inject Botox and look young forever. It’s living in denial and anything that has an undercurrent of this philosophy is bad for your growth.

The thing about Bollywood is that you can’t just quit it even if you have little fame. You have to stick around and keep trying.

I schooled in Himachal Pradesh. I had taken up science and, initially, wanted to become a doctor. There are few career options for students of science though, so I shifted to Delhi and decided to try theater instead.

I would never be able to spend all my life in a busy city like Mumbai.