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

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.

For my life, I need to make my own choices.

Before I turned vegetarian, I used to often cook seafood or my favourite breakfast of eggs and bacon. Now, I love making pulao or rice with lots of spices and vegetables.

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.

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.

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.

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 unrealistic expectations.

I always wanted to be the person to whom people looked forward to give opportunities. As opposed to always being the person who wants to work with others and who is always the backup: where it's like, 'If nothing works out then OK, let's get this person.'

For me, to be in a place where I'm on the 'favourite' list of top directors I like, that's being number one. There is no other definition to me. It's not money; it's not how many songs you're seen in or how many clothes you're changing in the film.

Hits and flops are overrated.

If a woman is super-successful, she is called a psychopath.

I followed my instincts; I followed my intuition, and it paid off.

It's very hard for me to find any sort of shame or blame in my life. I'm not made that way.

Sucking up to a director means you are unsure of your talents. I'm not.

There have been interviews with people saying they are jealous of Kangana. There are so many people who are jealous of my success.

Many people are insecure of many people.

Even when I was rebelling against my father, the point was to follow my own intuition and instinct.

In Bollywood, if you work with a superstar, even if you are a newcomer, you become a superstar. That didn't happen with me.

I'm my own hero on the sets; why should I work with other heroes? The Khans did not want to work with me when I started. Why should I work with them now?

What people see is just your career graph and the films you do. But that's a very small aspect of my life.

I don't think there is anything unusual about my struggle. It's a very typical struggle where you meet bad people, and then you meet good people, and then you finally have a breakthrough.

No one can guarantee success of a film.

Our society loves raw character; we love raw women. We don't love our mother because she is hot and sexy: we love our mother because she is our mother. We love our granny because she is our granny. We value her. We don't remember anyone's face from our childhood; we love our granny's face.

I am not ashamed of anything - not my past, not my affairs, not my body, and most definitely not my desire.

I don't find anything upsetting or gross or degrading about fighting with a mental illness: Bipolar or Schizophrenia.

I really don't want to be known as a fashionista. I'd like to be someone more than that.

It's not like what I do or what I wear is my copyright. What I'm wearing now also is an inspiration. It is how I saw it on the mannequin, and I just wore it, so it's in a way copied. But obviously, I wouldn't want to spend my life thinking about dresses. It is such a waste of life.

I think the rejection - if it's taken in the right spirit, it can make you a better person. And I think that is what I've always striven for. If one thing didn't work out, a project or anything, it doesn't mean that I lose my own confidence. In fact, I give myself a lot more confidence and opportunities.

They will always assume that this guy - an upcoming actor, what if he becomes a star tomorrow? He would not work with me then... so I might as well choose to be nice. But women are not treated with the same attitude. Women they treat really badly.

A lot of my friends are getting married, but I don't think that is what I need. I am under no such pressure that if everybody is having a boyfriend, I too should have one.

In India, it's a matter of fact that a girl child is seen as a liability. Probably the only expectation is that you grow up to a presentable young woman who can get a decent spouse.

My parents gave me the easy option that if you're going to go your way, that's the highway. You can expect no funds and no support, which I think was legitimate; that was a fair option.

I liked the fact that my father had a lot of expectations from my brother. I probably wanted to be that person who he could be proud of.

In my film 'Queen', there was a funny moment with the bra. My director called and said they are blurring the bra. They said it is vulgar. Our director was furious about it. We are artistes... We see props as they are. A woman's bra is not a danger to the society.

Image means a lot. It is everything in the business that we are in.

The kind of roles which you get, people identify with your roles, and it then leads to the kind of brands you get.

It is true that some people are interested in the buying part of things... They want to buy everything from the movie reviews to the media net to the opinions and so on.

Tone matters more than words.

When you are romancing a woman in a relationship, it should be poetic. It should have layers.

All beautiful things in this world are because of women.

Women empowerment does not mean you create complex among men. Then it will take 20 more years to empower men. It is all about evolving as a soul, as a human being. It does not mean that you become a sexist.

Nobody is like Tanuja Trivedi in this whole world.

There is a huge gap between the remuneration of an actor and actress.

Male actors get into production, share profit, and they don't take money at times but are involved in some capacity which is economical and resourceful. These things suit them; as they have made a place for themselves, they have command over the box office.

It's very hard to live in an environment where you're reminded, constantly told that your existence just happens to be here... That you are not meant to be here.

From my side, there was no acceptance to this fact that I am any less than anyone around me. So there was a certain discomfort that I felt growing up that I am not seen as I want to be seen as.

As it is, relationships are difficult, aren't they?

Physically, it is very demanding as an actor, and I don't want to put a lot of focus on that, but I think it is emotionally and mentally a lot more... It can completely twist you... We abandon ourselves for days and months, and by the end of it, we are twisted people which you make fun of.

When I did these psychological characters like the drug addicts, the ones who were rejected and dejected, I started to feel a sort of melancholia which was very unnatural for me to have at a teenage. Then I avoided those characters.