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. ”