There are times I feel my performance wasn’t the best. Sometimes, I feel embarrassed either by the role or the way I interpreted the role. I sincerely must accept that roles were not put across perfectly.

I am done with the clichéd heroine roles. I can’t go to work without a challenge. I want to do films that drive me, films in which I am a part of the main plot. There are times when I’ve watched the final outcome of a film and wondered what was going on. I get tired of coming up with the same expressions. When I have to be sad, I tell myself ‘okay, time to use expression number 5’.

I am really fed up doing second-rate roles in mediocre films and working against the prejudice that comes with my "image." I have studied all my life. I am not trying to become an actress, I am an artist and an actress.

Naturally, in the course of my life I have made lots of mistakes, large and small, for one reason or another, but at the heart of it all, every time I made a mistake it was because I was not radical enough.

I've featured in a lot of other people's films aside from mine but over a decade ago, I started being choosy of the kind of movies I feature in. I wanted to go for more challenging roles. I want to play more of an outside the box role that stretches my character.

Because I came from a very undiverse school and bunch of university friends, I think that I’ve hung on, on the diversity issue, to the feeling that I wouldn’t know how to write those parts. I think I was just sort of stupid and wrong about that. [...] I just don't know. I feel as though me, my casting director, my producers, just didn't think about it, just didn't look outwards enough.

My acting career has been quite a ride. After Vicky Donor, I gave two-three unsuccessful films and that was a great learning curve. But Dum Laga Ke Haisha onwards it was cool. I learnt so much from all my films, successful or unsuccessful. You start believing in your intuition, your gut feeling. It ultimately depends on the choices you're taking. Everyone is talented today. Your career graph depends on the choice of scripts, nothing else.

Experience is the name so many people give to their mistakes.

I think it’s a real danger, as an actor, when you try to make some statement through your career about what the business should be doing or ultimately what your image should be or how you want to be perceived. I look at every project that comes along and say, “Is this something I can sink my teeth into and can do a good job on?” That’s really how I choose roles.

While I have told about my successes, did I make mistakes? [I made] more than enough; many mistakes that I bitterly regret. First of all, my mistake was the court.

One must make one's own mistakes

How do I pick a role? Well, primarily I think I would like to be part of a film that's progressive as well as entertaining, you know? Because in India we have a huge amount of audience that is not educated, and they really look up to films... So I think it's important to do a film... that's entertaining but has a message. And after that I'd like to do films that are different for me -- if I'm doing a love story then I want to do a war film, if I'm doing a war film then I want to do a story about an un-wed mother. I think variety is the spice of life.

On his career: "I admit I've done a few lousy roles in the beginning of my career, like my role in Critters 3 (1991). But at that age, you'll do anything for attention!

I have been looking for international roles for the last year. I have been constantly auditioning and sent, like, a million tapes. I went overseas to meet directors. So I have been working. You realise that some roles are not made for you and you move to the next thing. It is not about international recognition. I just want to have fun with my roles. Personally, I just want to act