Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Do we recognize the platform that Indian cinema has been given? Of course. And typically India of us, we gracefully acknowledge our host's grace and we thank you for celebrating us and our cinema.

I was studying to be an architect, I wasn't plotting to join the movies. Films were just another career option. I took acting up with the same schoolgirl enthusiasm I had for examinations. Acting is a job and I take it very seriously.

My family is my strength and my weakness.

I have always been a person who is extremely comfortable in my skin. I have always just been myself in all these years on the public platform.

Even in India the Hindi film industry might be the best known but there are movies made in other regional languages in India, be it Tamil or Bengali. Those experiences too are different from the ones in Bombay.

Even prior to marriage and motherhood, it's always been about prioritising and focusing on what you can commit to. That's been my approach to every aspect of my life, be it my relationships or my professional commitments.

The more you are blessed with experience, the fuller and the more enriched you are in your craft.

For me, it's not about breaking big in Hollywood, but having interesting experiences.

My experience of being on the public platform got more multi-faceted, multi-dimensional, and my place in the public eye, I think, has always been a little more than just what is going on in that time in my life.

What's blessed about my life is that I have been able to connect with the global audience on a regular basis. I am thankful for everybody's love, and I reciprocate that, but I also have to deliver on every occasion.

Despite being in showbiz, I have a very real approach to my life. It plays off with my social life.

Life will take its toll on all of us. We get injured, we get old. It's really sad to try to run away from these harsh realities of life. Looks are not everything. I am not going to look beautiful all the time.