I have 32 sweet teeth. I love everything from chocolates of all kinds to panna cotta to Khubhani ka Meetha and Double ka Meetha.
When I was younger, back home in Hyderabad even I faced a stalker. I confronted him and asked him his name. That moment, the boy didn't have an answer.
One should never ignore or be afraid of reporting or calling out a harasser. There is no shame in doing so.
Every role I have in my kitty is different. None of them resemble the roles I have played in my earlier films.
Dia is the way my name was originally spelt. When I was applying for my passport for the Femina Miss India Contest, someone spelt my name as Diya. Since it was on my passport, I couldn't do much about it.
Beauty judgements are many and while we think that light skin women have no judgements to deal with. There is this filmmaker I love and respect and I really wanted to work with, once told me 'You are too fair to be in my movies.' And then I have also heard 'You are too pretty to play this part.'
I was told 'You should just do commercials and Bollywood' and Bollywood would be said to me like it's a bad thing.
It's really the tone that people use to convey things sometimes that can either become a compliment or an insult. It's not always what you are saying, it's about how you say it.
There are many women who are getting the opportunity to play fantastic parts on the web like Huma Qureshi in 'Leila,' Shefali Shah in 'Delhi Crime' and so many others. It gives opportunity to those who are not getting the work that they desire to do because of their age. So web is doing a social service.
I grew up on a staple of films where I saw actors like Waheeda Rehman, Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi playing very powerful parts in films.
I chose to be part of 'Kaafir' because the story called out to my soul, I need to connect with it.
I was allowed to take my adoptive father's surname. My birth certificate has a different name. My passport has both my adoptive and biological father's surnames.
I lost my biological father at nine, but up until then, we celebrated Christmas and Easter too.
I handle my home beautifully. However, I am not just my husband's name.
I am never going to stop evolving and growing.
Being pregnant is a wonderful thing. I have never understood why people make such a big deal of it though.
People wonder why a man and woman can't be friends after being in love. It is because it's very tough to look beyond the hurt and try to find a common ground to be friends. It's it like a healing wound.
If you are a woman and an actor, it does not mean that you have to contain or limit yourself to just being that.
When I started out, at 19, I was told, by the media and the film industry to do a certain kind of films and work with certain kind of stars. Coming from a non-filmi background, I did not know how to go about it, as there were different people trying to push me in various directions.
I chase dreams that fulfill me and not a dream that somebody else describes to me.
