Sameera Reddy

When I was pregnant for the first time, I could not believe how I gained so much weight.

We women are very hard on ourselves.

I want all women - teens, young women, older women, pregnant women, ageing women - to love and accept themselves.

Yes, I've received my fair share of trolling on social media.

You could become an overnight star in Bollywood with just single hit, but your fate would change with a single flop. That's why I do not derive satisfaction however much name I earn for myself in Bollywood.

It's amazing how much this industry has taught me. It's been one of the hardest yet most rewarding things I chose.

Making peace with one's choices is always a tricky feat to achieve.

The thrills of riding a bike and having to do speedy stunts are something I've discovered I love like crazy.

If men find my legs sexy, wonderful.

I have done a film like 'Kaalpurush' by Buddhadeb Dasgupta and then I also have movies like 'Musafir,' where I am an out-and-out glam doll. So I do all kinds of cinema.

I understand that there are two kinds of films, there is the kind of cinema which allows you the opportunity to be an actor and then there are the masala entertainers. I have done both.

Most actresses began their career as glamorous pin-ups before being noticed for their acting talents.

I am happy being a bombshell, the image has worked for me.

I believe in item songs.

Everyone told me that after what you went through during the first pregnancy, do you really want to get pregnant again? I was said, 'yes!'

What happened during my first pregnancy was that I took a lot of hormones. I had problems with my pregnancy and I was bed-ridden. I had tonnes of issues but it was my mental state that consumed me. I felt like I failed at myself.

I was always focused on having kids. I knew that I am not a mother who will give birth then leave the kid, I just couldn't. I am not saying it is wrong or right but I just couldn't do it. It was my choice.

Social media is not a platform where you can please everybody.

We have been fed such unreal standards of beauty that we have now become victims and part of this process that one cannot break.

You have to go through a point where you actually hate yourself because when you come to this point of hating yourself so much and break into pieces, you can put yourself back together in the most beautiful way possible.

I had to constantly try and fit in it and it really exhausted and tired me. I don't regret it because that was my learning to learn to come to this point of loving myself unconditionally.

The perfect body and the perfect face that I worked on, for my film career, broke apart and I was completely lost.

I was told I was too dark, too tall, too broad. I didn't fit into that girl next door look.

Apart from studies and playtime, I involve my son in house cleaning and other chores.

Being locked inside the house plays on a psyche of any child and I believe the most important thing is the mental health of any kid.

While 'Tezz' is being touted as an action-thriller, I feel there is an immense emotional connect.

When I did Mira Nair's film on AIDS, people told me to stay away from it and even asked me reasons why I chose to do a film on the stigma. My reason for choosing the movie is similar. It is a social reality and there is no harm being a part of a movie like this as it really dissects the reality of the crisis.

I just don't like to comment on my personal life.

I have always done justice to my role and I don't worry about being overshadowed.

I felt like Lara Croft while doing stunts.

I don't believe in a solo role which doesn't have any meaning.

I have always been someone who has put life and heart before work. I have taken time off and gone for vacations.

Whether it's me or Mallika or anybody, I always say that 'Tezz' is a very good product and it is a very good film.

I always go with what I feel is right.

Action is not easy.

I don't believe two actresses can be best friends. It's an absolute myth.

Vettai' is a lovely film! I knew it would click big time.

When I began my career, I used to say I was a Bollywood heroine.

I had placenta previa, which had me on bed rest for almost four to five months after the pregnancy. I just started putting on weight and falling into some kind of place in my head because it went from shows, award functions and a glamorous lifestyle to just not being able to handle what pregnancy was doing to me.

I am tall and naturally built for action, I think.

To be honest, my videos are for myself. I didn't look at social media as a vehicle for my comeback.

I have been grey since I was 20 years old!

All of us struggle to live up to the image that's drawn for us. Perfect body, perfect skin, perfect house - we are put in a frame with a picture that 'others' decide for us. If we work to live up to just that, when will we do what we like?

Post-partum depression is real and while I was told about it, I wasn't sure what to expect.

Children need to be comforted when they're sick.

I must say Action is not at all easy. It is scary.

Women should be looked at as much more than objects of glamour. We have a lot more to offer.

One thing that needs to change in the industry is expectations from women. I think there have been a lot of instances where I have been approached in inappropriate ways.

Prakash Jha is an intense filmmaker, he is a perfectionist. He would never have a song just for the sake of it.

A song cannot be a gimmick as it requires talent and hard work. But if it is placed wrongly, then it can be called that way.