Three months after reaching the U.S., hurricane Sandy struck, and I had to spend four days in the university shelter. Though I have worked for projects on environment displacement in the past, it was the first time that I actually experienced one and understood how attached one can be to your regular shelter.

As an actor, I just made the most of the opportunities that came my way and I owe it to my directors for having given me characters with substance, as I have never gone around asking for a role.

As an artiste, you get a high when you are given roles that are challenging.

I would love to do Malayalam films.

When the women in any other film industry are almost equal to men, in Malayalam only one or two women are among the crew.

As an actress I am totally open to offers as an individual and want to treat every opportunity with same spirit.

The reason why I returned to dance is simply because I love dance. I had also promised myself that I wanted to make more sense of dance, study and understand it far more in detail.

Kerala audience is different because their expectations are very high.

I think classical dance is not seeing the evolution seen by classical music.

See, modern dance forms have a pull because the youngsters can relate to it, but it makes me happy to say that in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, people still relate to classical art forms.

Professionally, I haven't done any film in 2013 as I was studying in NYU.

I am super lucky to have a resume which has all kinds of filmmakers and films and hence experiences as a person and actress for me.

If I am destined to do more Telugu films, I will.

'Striker' is a story of the human spirit triumphing over all odds.

I just cannot fathom the criteria and the eligibility for awards as there is an ocean of difference between the state and national awards.

Shwetha Menon is my good friend and I have nothing against her. But, the Kerala State Award for the Best Actress has been given to her for Paleri Manickam' in which somebody else dubbed for her. I received only the second best actress award for my performance in Pazhassi Raja,' where I have dubbed in my own voice.

Lack of dignity and equal opportunity at workplace for women in cinema is a truth that needs role reversal.

WCC is not an arbitrator, it's a collection of people who represent and protect the interest of women in cinema. We are an organisation that facilitates solutions for a just work space and don't see ourselves as arbitrators of justice.

Changing age old patriarchal mindsets is a difficult long process and involves constant communication and dialogue.

It wasn't because of Striker's bad performance that I didn't sign any film in Bollywood. There wasn't much to do in Bollywood, and the offers weren't great too.

I'm excited to work in Bollywood, but I want to be part of meaningful projects.

Apart from being an actor, I'm an academician. I wanted to pursue something with which I could bring about a change in society.

I'm an army kid with floating feet.

Hyderabad is home after all. This is where I grew up.

I would like to be part of all kind of cinema and will jump at any opportunity that allows me to experiment as an actor.

I am hungry as an actor.

I started dancing at a young age. When I became busy with films and studies, dance took a back seat. Also, it was constricting for someone like me, who is not religious, to do something which is so deified.

I felt I should get back to stage performances because I really enjoy them.

I don't believe in cutting down or increasing the number of films I do.

I am a greedy actor, and it upsets me losing work I have wanted to do, but that is a motivator not a dampener.

I have been part of films like Rajamanikyam' and Seniors,' which had genuine comedy and I am comfortable with the genre.

Tamil has given me an experience that's extremely rich from Vishnu's Pattiyal' to Chimbudevan's Irrumbakottai,' to even a small significant role in Ram's Thangameengal.'

Yes, I have had more commercial success in Malayalam but that doesn't mean I can't do with more in Tamil.

I've never been linked to a co-star or director, never had drunken stupors or been disrespectful of a producer's position. I don't have parents intruding in filmmaking affairs and so on. I'm a professional and like to look at myself that way.

The only philosophy that I'm not confused about in life is love.

Malayalam actress Ann Augustine, director V K Prakash, writer Jayaprakah Kulur and I have planned to produce quality dramas and to take it to a wide range of audience. We are making some popular works into stage plays.

I have acted in 20 films in various languages and won 13 awards for my acting skills.

I am not a good actor. There is much more to do and learn.

I am comfortable doing glamorous roles and have no qualms going nude if the character demands it.

In any language, I would like to do my best!

I am a director's actor. It is a director's medium, definitely. That doesn't mean I stop using my head.

All my directors have tried to draw the best out of me at that point of time.

I am not revolutionary or experimental, but I am curious and love to explore and indulge in life.

Cinema is a male-dominated bastion and one has to be patient.

I had a smooth take-off in Malayalam, I would like to explore more and take up films that are different in Tamil.

I always celebrated my birthdays with my parents. There is no question of not being with them on that day.

In spite of its relatively nascent rise in popularity, tea joints across the country are romanticized, quite like beer pubs in the West.

Anger, pain and a tinge of joy are the recursive emotions I have been waking up to ever since I read reports on how Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed women in Hollywood for years. Some of these women are actors I have been longing to co-star with even if they reside in another part of the globe.

It has been a fairy tale for an outsider, bouncing from one film set to another, choosing my films as assertively as those films chose me. And through this journey I have not once faced the dreaded syndrome of the 'casting couch.'

The Weinstein story and the way it has shaken the roots of Hollywood has made apparent the fact that, across the world, there is a pressing need to recognize and correct the circumstances women subsist in, in order to move forward.