I don't know where my romanticism comes from. My mom and dad would read to me a lot. 'Treasure Island,' 'Robinson Crusoe,' tales of chivalry and knights, things like that. Those are the stories I loved growing up.

The art world can be very intimidating because it's just so vast. You talk to people who are really clued in to all the young artists and coming into it you're never going to be able to catch up immediately, even though there's pressure to.

It's mainly about working hard and proving to people you're serious about it, and stretching yourself and learning. The mistake a lot of actors make, particularly young ones, is allowing themselves to feel that they're the finished articles, the bee's knees, and it's not true.

I definitely think that theatre is something I'll keep coming back to in my career for as long as I can. I also think theatre's something you have to be very fit to do. I am fairly fit, but I don't think I could do it all the time.

Throughout my career, when I have been rejected, there was sometimes subtext, and it was this: People will not read your work because these are not universal stories.

The moment I'm perceived to be even a tiny bit successful, my career will go down the pan.

The Tamil film '3' is a movie that I will always be proud of, irrespective of whether it did well at the BO or not. It completely changed my career and people's perspective of me as a performer.

I don't see myself as famous; I see myself as a normal person with a job that is not very normal. My work life is very out there and very public. But I do my best to maintain my privacy.