Being a feminist means asking for equality. But people take it the other way at times. It is looked down upon is because it is seen as man-hating. But, feminism is a really crazy idea that suggests men and women are equal.

We need better and stronger roles for female actors.

We don't expect someone in a bikini to stand up for women's rights; we only expect a girl in an 'NGO outfit' to speak about it. It's as much as the right of the girl in the bikini to talk about it as a woman in a kurta. We need to embrace that multiplicity.

I consider myself as a human being with lots of ups and downs and learning from a lot of failures before I can succeed.

Well, being that, at the house and being in the competition, it was very hard to be with family. We couldn't have visitors out of respect for everyone else there. But, being the American Idol, the focus would have been on me.

My parents had chosen the medical profession for me. I even studied a few semesters at St Xavier's College, but at the back of my mind, I always wanted to be a musician like my father.

I have a daughter and a family.

Our family was on the lunatic fringe. My mother was always completely irrepressible. My father made crowd noises into a microphone.