Sometimes casting falls in place easily and sometimes it takes a while. Fifty per cent of my job is done when I get the right actors.

The idea of 'Roja' was with me for seven years before I made it.

When I did my first film, I had a fair idea of what I liked and what I didn't while watching an actor in front of the camera. After I finished the film, I thought I had exhausted everything I knew. As I moved from one story, setting and character to another, I discovered something new.

I have only one simple ambition when I make a film. That it should be the best I have made so far. With 'Kadal' it was no different.

I always look for genuineness. If I feel I can connect with the audience, I will try to develop it. For example, the genesis of 'Kannathil Muthamittal' was an article published in a magazine.

When Kamal Haasan did 'Nayakan,' he had done a few roles that had him aged and demanded a lot of commitment from. He was already a veteran and a master.

Within the mainstream cinema, I feel you can experiment and make sensible films. It's possible to tell a story with characters and emotions which are real, genuine, and which need not be over the top.

For a filmmaker, whether the film is liked, understood or appreciated counts as much as the moolah.

The fact that technology has developed so much gives you the liberty to tell the stories, which were difficult to say earlier. It allows you to tell it more convincingly, more elaborately and more beautifully.

Every film you see at a festival teaches you something.

Film fests are an opportunity to see different kinds of films that you usually don't get to watch. When I'm part of a jury, then I get to judge films, but otherwise I attend festivals to watch two or three films a day and network with a gathering of cinema lovers from all over.

I love watching the sunrise and sunset and the sky, the birds.

I believe there is a time for everything. Time changes, and you need to accept that. Else, you stagnate.

Do your best and leave the rest to God.

With my mom and dad around, I became a child yet again.

I come from a family where we were taught to love and respect every community and religion.

I would love to play Indira Gandhi.

Life is about falling down, getting up, and moving ahead.

It is good to enjoy your life, follow your passion, do things that give you joy.

What we get at home is 100% organic food. We are also 90% vegetarian.

For growth, I need to be challenged and excited about the project. I need to venture out into unknown territories.

I am very content being single. I don't feel the need of someone absolutely having to be with me to make me feel like a woman.

Being a woman, I want to look pretty in every phase of my life.

Cancer makes you realise that you will be dead one day. It's so common seeing people dying and falling sick, but we aren't really ever able to comprehend it ourselves. The realisation that I am here for a certain period of time and will be gone after that made me value my time and life.

I was supposed to direct a film on Gautam Buddha. That didn't work out. A pity, because the entire script had been written. It was in English.

I knew right from the beginning that if I was going to write a book, I would write my version of the truth and then put it out there for people to decide if they will accept it or hate me.

I don't take anything personally.

I wanted to be a complete person and realised that the well-being of mental health is extremely important in achieving that.

I came from an affluent family, am well-known and well-read.

I like working with creative people who are receptive to new ideas, who want to do things that are different, who want to create films of a different mould.

I'll be very careful about what kind of energy I'm inviting into my life and whether it's going to be helpful for me or help me evolve as a person.

Life is full of risks, and often, you have to take them. Just don't be scared of taking one.

I cannot digest too much junk food. I just have it once in a blue moon.

There is nothing compared to the feeling of losing life. The moment when you are close to death is nothing but a profound experience.

Even after spending a substantial time in the entertainment business, before the release of a film, I am nervous.

I firmly believe in mind over matter.

I've decided that whether I succeed or fail, I have to give it 100 per cent. That way, at least I know I tried.

I'm a spontaneous actress, not a studied one.

The poor lifestyle I had been leading made my body susceptible to diseases. Had it not been cancer, some other malady would have struck me.

I don't have sugar and try to avoid it as much as possible. At home, I don't have it at all.

One has to stay dignified about whatever is happening in life.

I feel that 'Saudagar' was the best debut for me. I wouldn't want it any other way.

It's not that I am a difficult person; it's just that I have certain strong likes and dislikes.

I feel somewhere there is a fault in this whole mindset of not accepting the natural process. To age gracefully, to accept life with grace has more beauty and charm. But you have to be fit and healthy. And that is something we should strive for.

If you build your immune system, eat right, God knows how long you are going to live!

I don't believe in harbouring ill feelings about anyone.

One of the many joys of being an actor is to understand the human psychology.

I love working with the younger generation.

I think 'Ek Chhotisi Love Story' has really damaged me. People think they can compromise my reputation and get away with it.

Truth of life is that in difficult times, my family was my backbone.