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She is TV’s gift to Cinema…

Yes – the head-turner from ‘Vicky Donor’, ‘Badlapur’ etc. was sighted on the Small Screen before all her exploits and triumphs in filmdom… And her luminous presence would lit up countless living rooms in Shows like, ‘Raajkumar Aaryyan’ (NDTV Imagine) or ‘Yeh Pyar Na Hoga Kam’ (Colors)

On the Yami-persona…

‘Simple – yet ambitious…And if that is a paradox – so be it… I’m a typical Chandigarh girl and I wear my Middle-class values on my sleeves… I never ever fight shy of them… And trust me,those values place no curbs on me… I aspire and crave to go places in life and have always found my Sanskars to be nothing but a springboard for that…!’

On the Acting-bug…

‘You won’t believe it – I was in my 6th standard when the teacher asked our class, ‘Tell me, what you would like to become in life?’… And all the boys & girls expressed various wishes - some said, ‘Doctor’, some said ‘Engineer’ and so on… Then came my turn and I didn’t bat an eyelid before declaring grandly – ‘Actor’…!’

On the difficulties of Acting…

‘It is difficult… Like, I’m doing ‘Lahar’ in ‘YehPyar Na HogaKam’ on TV and ‘Lahar’ is an out and out North-belt girl, while I’m a hard-core Chandigarhite… I had to slog my hardest to get under Lahar’s skin, like, I speak very fast, but Lahar won’t do that – wohtohharlafzkochabachabakebolegi… It was not just saying ‘Hum’ instead of ‘Main’ – the whole speech-pattern, the entire body-language had to be changed… What can be more challenging and difficult than that…?’

On Beliefs…

‘I staunchly believe in FamilyandFamily-values that many in today’s generation consider outmoded, unfashionable and untenable… Yes, I, too, am Modern, I, too, am contemporary, but my relations are sacrosanct for me - I won’t tolerate anyone or anything to fiddle or trifle with them… That goes even for ‘Love’ as well… Love is fine, but never ever at the cost of my parents or my family…!’

On being part of Tinsel Town…

‘I became that by accident… Despite all my wishes, I knew it would never be possible for me to shift to Bombay from Chandigarh… But ‘Destiny’ thought otherwise… Some friends sent my photos here without so much as even telling me about it and next I knew, I was doing ‘RaajkumarAaryyan’… And things kept happening, like, theFilms down South and ‘YehPyar Na HogaKam’… I didn’t have to struggle at all…!’

On the TV-experience…

‘The hectic-feverish pace of work here does take its toll… At times, I feel as if even my face has changed because of these punishing 18-hour shoots… At times, I find myself crying, crying and still more crying the entire day – tears are so much in demand on TV… So many times I’ve felt totally spent-up and on the verge of crashing down… Even my sister cautioned me – ‘What are you doing – you’ll ruin yourself’… But I cannot be dishonest to my work… However tormenting the frenzied schedules have been, I’ve always kept coping with them bravely…!’

On Role-Models…

‘None!...But inspirations – yes… Like, say, Amitabh Bachchan – I’m in awe of his dignified silences and his capacity to bounce back…!’

On Crazy Wishes…

‘One – to do a crrrazy Comedy… Two –to be able to become invisible, so that I could sleep to my heart’s content – unseen and undisturbed…Three – to be able to steal from somewhere, a Crystal Ball so that I could peep into my future through it!’