Arfi Lamba

I left my cushy job as an engineer in New Delhi in 2008 to pursue acting in Mumbai. I figured roles will start pouring in as soon as I landed in the city, but my bubble burst quickly.

As I look back and connect the dots, all I want to do is go back and hug my scared young self, who took a lot of steps out of impulse not knowing what will happen. So many nights of disappointment, so many others of being disillusioned where I would have just gone ahead and quit it all - I still do not know what kept me hanging in there.

Some independent Indian films do so well at these festivals in Europe and in the United States that when they come back, India just cannot ignore them.

I was very shy as a kid, but films fascinated me a lot. I think every North Indian kid wants to grow up to become an actor at some point. I hail from a small village in Punjab.

We all do role-play. Sometimes behind the camera, and sometimes in front of it. I am the few lucky ones who have been able to wear both hats and especially have been able to romance the camera in a believable way, and I hope that this romance between us never ends.

Slumdog' initiated a chain of events like going to Cannes and being invited to the Cairo Film Festival, which changed my perspective of cinema and of being an actor forever.

I think I was born to be an actor.

The actor in me can never die. It's my first love and first dream. That's what keep me going.

After joining theatre, I started thinking that acting in films was not half as challenging as theatre.

I arrived thinking I had these amazing looks and body and that I would straight away land the lead in a Yash Chopra film. Those fancy ideas got quashed soon enough.

One of the biggest regrets I have in life is not getting an opportunity to work with Yash Chopra.

Making independent films is liberating. It eliminates self-censorship, which mainstream films are infected with due to commercial priorities.