While growing up, I saw how finances can play havoc in anybody's life. While we were comfortable, money didn't come easy.

I have always wanted to make a movie, in fact I always wanted to direct someday. But I never thought I would be a producer.

I think the ability to empathize with another person's experience and go into the trajectory of their journey is challenging.

I always wanted to play a bigger part in the process of cinema, so production felt like a very natural progression and calling.

I cannot write a novel because I cannot work in continuity. My works are more abstract, may be, I will try short story writing.

I have 32 sweet teeth. I love everything from chocolates of all kinds to panna cotta to Khubhani ka Meetha and Double ka Meetha.

I lost my biological father when I was 9, I lost my stepfather at 23. Both men had such a deep impact in my understanding of life.

If you are asking me whether I would want to have kids, I would say obviously I want them. It's only natural after a certain phase in life.

It was extraordinary living in Mumbai, navigating my course, understanding how to manage my finances on my own, mapping out my daily expenses.

The one thing I have discovered is that we all have challenges; the challenges vary, but our response to the challenges makes us people we are.

Don't hold back from being an 'empath.' Don't be afraid of shedding your tears. Feel it. Feel the full extent of everything. It gives us strength.

My stepfather was an exemplary human being. It took me a lot of time to accept him as a parent. But what he did intelligently was he befriended me.

When I was younger, back home in Hyderabad even I faced a stalker. I confronted him and asked him his name. That moment, the boy didn't have an answer.

It takes a lot to be a part of a film and as an artist, I want to be a part of subjects that makes me feel happy and that's become a big priority for me.

Be it acting, writing, directing or producing, I love cinema. I love the art of telling stories and I'm happy doing one of the above or all of the above.

It is extremely empowering when you are making fundamental and critical decisions on different levels of production, till the final showcase on the screen.

One thing led to another and I was selected from Hyderabad for the Miss India pageant. I remember my mother being really surprised that I wanted to take part!

I grew up on a staple of films where I saw actors like Waheeda Rehman, Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi playing very powerful parts in films.

I understand its fun to watch a web series up close to your chest is something else, but to see it on a bigger screen and to experience the emotions is magical.

I was allowed to take my adoptive father's surname. My birth certificate has a different name. My passport has both my adoptive and biological father's surnames.

I calculated that if I live up to the age of 80, then I end up using 450 toothbrushes in my life. All that plastic! So I switched to bamboo toothbrushes years ago.

Every child must have a childhood they deserve. But unfortunately, millions of children are deprived childhood and their dreams crushed under the burden of poverty.

I have never stored water in plastic bottles, always in glass, steel or copper bottles and containers. I even carry my own water to work, and refill bottles for drinking.

I think every opportunity, every disappointment, every rejection, every accolade... everything has contributed in shaping my character and my choices and who I have become.

I have always believed that cinema is one of the greatest instruments of positive social change. Stories can be light, engaging and poignant, but they need to say something.

Theatrical experience will always be the norm in India. In fact, as a producer and as an actor, I always hope that the magnum opus theatrical experience should always continue.

It's really the tone that people use to convey things sometimes that can either become a compliment or an insult. It's not always what you are saying, it's about how you say it.

I happened to be spotted by a modeling agent who offered me a part-time job at 16. Everything happened very quickly after that - advertising campaigns, fashion shows, editorial shoots.

It is critical for us to cultivate consciousness and compassion towards our environment, create awareness, galvanize people, and build sustainable innovations for sustainable development.

My father was a German architect and graphic designer, who travelled all over the world, teaching teachers on how to teach. On one such visit to the Max Mueller Bhavan in Delhi, he met my mother.

People wonder why a man and woman can't be friends after being in love. It is because it's very tough to look beyond the hurt and try to find a common ground to be friends. It's it like a healing wound.

Every person has the ability to influence change. I am grateful that my voice counts, and I am able to influence change. But more than that, there is a certain amount of activism that is engrained in me.

Dia is the way my name was originally spelt. When I was applying for my passport for the Femina Miss India Contest, someone spelt my name as Diya. Since it was on my passport, I couldn't do much about it.

For any female actor, the age between 35 to 45 is treacherous. Filmmakers tell me, I am at that awkward age. No parts are written for women in this age bracket, while men at that age flourish and have great careers.

Some people feel divorce is an excuse to not compromise. Yes, in life you have to adapt and compromise. But the questions is - when does it stop? How much is too much, how less is too little? That's a personal choice.

I am in Deepak Ramsay's 'Koi Mere Dil Mein Hain,' where I am a modern girl who wears bold outfits. She makes heads turn wherever she goes. She is not a brat. She nurses this false belief that she can get any man she wants.

It really doesn't matter whether it's an ensemble cast or it's a lead or what is perceived as a commercial or non-commercial or an offbeat film. None of that would matter, what really matters is the story and who's telling the story.

Fortunately, I have never been a victim of sexual harassment. But there have been instances where I have lost out on work or people have shown disinterest in working with me because I was unwilling to succumb to this unspoken understanding of patriarchy.

When I started out, at 19, I was told, by the media and the film industry to do a certain kind of films and work with certain kind of stars. Coming from a non-filmi background, I did not know how to go about it, as there were different people trying to push me in various directions.

Beauty judgements are many and while we think that light skin women have no judgements to deal with. There is this filmmaker I love and respect and I really wanted to work with, once told me 'You are too fair to be in my movies.' And then I have also heard 'You are too pretty to play this part.'

As a child, I remember seeing what a struggle it was for both my parents to accommodate and adjust to the idea of not being together. They cared for each other deeply; they loved each other. They just couldn't stay together because they wanted different things from life and sometimes, it happens.

There are many women who are getting the opportunity to play fantastic parts on the web like Huma Qureshi in 'Leila,' Shefali Shah in 'Delhi Crime' and so many others. It gives opportunity to those who are not getting the work that they desire to do because of their age. So web is doing a social service.

Share This Page