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.
People in Mumbai are not really into Punjabi music, whereas those in Delhi and Gurgaon love Punjabi numbers and are totally into the peppy music.
Mumbai is home to us. Medina was born in Munich because Roya’s family lives in Germany and she had five sisters to help her while I was travelling for work.
The purpose behind coming to Mumbai had always been music and I feel blessed to have got the opportunity to showcase my talent, work with prominent directors and reach out to my fans.
Besides going to new restaurants, I like to eat home-cooked food made by my mom and sometimes I enjoy Mumbai’s local street food also.
I have a dance academy in Mumbai that my husband takes care of.
I grew up in South Mumbai and I am a total homebody, so I was not seen around. I guess that’s the reason many believed that I wasn’t Indian or can’t speak Hindi.
I love Mumbai for many reasons.
People think that just because I live in Mumbai, I’m not interested in Bengali films. But I want to act more in Tollywood because roles here are meatier.
I was born in Mumbai and brought up between Mumbai and Nashik.
In Delhi, I have never taken an auto, while in Mumbai, if there is an auto strike, my life will come to a full stop.
When I was a child, the idea of coming to Mumbai and becoming a singer was a far-fetched one.
I was 14-15 when I first saw Michael Jackson dance, and I thought, ‘How can he move like that?’ I started following him. We didn’t have TV in those days, and could access videos on VCR. But who in Gujarat would keep a MJ tape? After a year or so, I knew somebody from Mumbai who got that tape for me.
I was a glamorous actress in Mumbai. I had done Sanjay Gupta’s ‘Musafir.’ I wanted to know how Buddhada thought of me in the role of Supriya, Rahul Bose’s unhappy wife in ‘Kaalpurush.’ It needs a visionary film-maker to see an actor in a role that seems very removed from her real personality or on-screen image.
After ‘Njandukalude…’ I had gone for an acting course in Mumbai as I felt the need to improve my acting skills.
When I started working in Mumbai, I was interested in working in the indie and niche spaces, as they do make really good cinema, driven by good stories. But then, I decided to explore everything possible.
I’m very loyal to my south fans and the industry there. So, it’s hard for me leave all the love, respect, and admiration and shift base here. I’m a Mumbai girl and have lived here for most of my life. At the same time, I’ve spent 10 years of my life in the South and feel like a south Indian at heart.
Above all, Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is the work of an artist at the peak of his powers. India is his palette, and Mumbai – that teeming ‘maximum city’, with 19 million strivers on the make, jostling, scheming, struggling and killing for success – is his brush.
