It's really wrong to judge someone because of their beliefs.

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

Give me rice, dal and some aachar any day, or a Spaghetti Bolognese.

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.

My privilege as a celebrity doesn't disallow me pain.

Being married to a wonderful, motivating partner has brought happiness and a greater sense of purpose to my life.

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.

The only challenge I faced in the beginning was that no one believed I could seriously see a film through.

'Kaafir' has come along because I have never been more aligned with my truth.

I was born and brought up in Hyderabad.

When I was just four-and-a-half, my parents separated and both my parents remarried.

Participating in Miss India was a paradigm shift and I had a blast.

I started cooking when I was growing up in Hyderabad, and I was already pretty decent when I was around seven years old.

I can make a mean Kachchi Biryani, and sometimes I bake it, too.

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.

One should never ignore or be afraid of reporting or calling out a harasser. There is no shame in doing so.

Every role I have in my kitty is different. None of them resemble the roles I have played in my earlier films.

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.

Beauty is not about good skin, features and figure, but about your nature and habits.

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.

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.'

I was told 'You should just do commercials and Bollywood' and Bollywood would be said to me like it's a bad thing.

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 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 chose to be part of 'Kaafir' because the story called out to my soul, I need to connect with it.

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 lost my biological father at nine, but up until then, we celebrated Christmas and Easter too.

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.

I handle my home beautifully. However, I am not just my husband's name.

I am never going to stop evolving and growing.

Being pregnant is a wonderful thing. I have never understood why people make such a big deal of it though.

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.

If you are a woman and an actor, it does not mean that you have to contain or limit yourself to just being that.

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.

I chase dreams that fulfill me and not a dream that somebody else describes to me.

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

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

It is important for the film industry to rise above ageism.

Roles for women need to be better written.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I look for gravitas and substance that can outlast the theatrical experience.

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.

It takes a lot of drive to succeed as an independent producer.

I have always expressed my opinion fearlessly. To not express the truth is far more frightening.

People all over the globe love to see women in a sari. I always love to be draped in one as well.

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.

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.