I'm different. I don't speak perfect American. I do have a lilt of an Indian accent. I thought, 'Maybe the world's not okay with what I bring, being Indian.'

I speak, Hindi, English, and American. I'm trilingual.

I felt so out of place at the Miss India pageant. I had just come back from America, and I was told I needed to lose my American accent and learn the Queen's English, so I had to enunciate my vowels and speak well and eloquently. Giving up a New York accent is pretty hard.

I love dabbling in different genres, and I like being good at different genres of cinema.

I was very sure I did not want to be the stereotype of what Indian people are seen as, which is Bollywood and henna. That's all great! It's what we are, and I love it. I love saris; I love music. I love henna; I love dancing, but that's not all we are.

To convince another part of the world that Bollywood is not just jokers who break into song and dance was very difficult. I'm literally ploughing the ground and making people understand that Indian actors are not a joke.