My work is better, maybe all filmmakers are better, for Polanski's imprint on cinema. He created language for all of us to use, there is no question about that.
I think when I got drawn to film, I didn't know it was a business. I mean, like most filmmakers, I probably saw more films than a lot of people when I was a kid. But I watched them on TV as well. I was no purist about it. I spent lots of time in movie theaters, but I also watched a lot of films on TV.
Before, I just don't think we knew how much music was out there; now with MySpace, it's really opened it up. Filmmakers have so much more choice.
Roman Polanski is one of my favorite filmmakers, and John Phillips one of my favorite songwriters. I had the honor to meet each of these men and was almost giddy to be blessed with the chance to tell each artist what his work meant has to me.
I was telling my manager that I wanted to quit the industry because the synopsis I was receiving from filmmakers all felt like a lie. Yes, they were heroine-centric... but the concepts were simple. Like a rape victim, her struggling against the odds and gaining revenge, or a wife who supports her husband endlessly, or a sacrificial mother.
I think I draw most inspiration from writers like Richelle Mead and filmmakers like John Hughes. They both really understand the experience of being a teenager and how insistent and intense everything feels, but they're also smart, savvy, and fun.
When only one or two percent of filmmakers are female, you can't help but have some kind of bias.
Actors should stop complaining about nepotism. I am uneducated - I was asked to leave school in Class 11. I came to Mumbai with only Rs 300, yet there is no one in this industry who has not been nice to me. From filmmakers who have given me work to people who have given me advice, I feel blessed to have them in my life.
I share different relationships with all directors. I share a beautiful working relationship with Anurag Kashyap. Sriram Raghavan is such an inspiration and I have always wanted to work with them. I gel really well with filmmakers like these.
I'm very fortunate to have spent so much time in the industry and to have lived through several generations of filmmakers, actors and technicians. There's a huge volume of experience seeing people change and seeing content change.
