Arfi Lamba

“I left my cushy job as an engineer in New Delhi in 2008 to pursue acting in Mumbai. I figured roles will start pouring in as soon as I landed in the city, but my bubble burst quickly.”

“Before acting offers came by, I dabbled in theatre under the aegis of the late thespian Dinesh Thakur. He was instrumental in honing my acting skills.”

“In 'Fugly,' I play a very middle-class guy with whom anyone can relate. At the same time, playing such characters is not as easy as it sounds.”

“There have been a bunch of Indian films in English that found an audience.”

“It is all about playing a challenging role, and whether a film is a commercial one or not does not really matter.”

“When I didn't become the quintessential Yash Chopra hero, I got into the 'struggle' period and became negative.”

“As an artist, I will always give art more importance and preference than pure entertainment.”

“I was very shy as a kid, but films fascinated me a lot. I think every North Indian kid wants to grow up to become an actor at some point. I hail from a small village in Punjab.”

“The actor in me can never die. It's my first love and first dream. That's what keep me going.”

“We all do role-play. Sometimes behind the camera, and sometimes in front of it. I am the few lucky ones who have been able to wear both hats and especially have been able to romance the camera in a believable way, and I hope that this romance between us never ends.”

“Making independent films is liberating. It eliminates self-censorship, which mainstream films are infected with due to commercial priorities.”

“I arrived thinking I had these amazing looks and body and that I would straight away land the lead in a Yash Chopra film. Those fancy ideas got quashed soon enough.”

“After joining theatre, I started thinking that acting in films was not half as challenging as theatre.”

“As a true-blue Punjabi, I have learnt to tackle disappointments, especially since I have no godfather in the industry.”

“Success is just around the corner, but I don't want to rush into anything.”

“I had travelled to a lot of cities in Europe before, but Prague was special. It held a mysterious attraction for me for during the time I was there.”

“Some independent Indian films do so well at these festivals in Europe and in the United States that when they come back, India just cannot ignore them.”

“'Slumdog' initiated a chain of events like going to Cannes and being invited to the Cairo Film Festival, which changed my perspective of cinema and of being an actor forever.”

“Labels are actually not to make us understand things better: they are actually to ostracise and discriminate that what does not belong to the majority.”

“I think I was born to be an actor.”