Yami Gautam says the film industry is a "consuming place" and can drain a person emotionally. The actor says the key for her to stay sane is being able to hold her own guard. "It can either take one film or more for someone to be up there. There is no formula for it. When you are up there it is about how you survive and how you handle it, how you take it forward is important. At one point I was a newcomer and there will be new people coming in, if I look left, right and centre I would not be able to focus on my work. It is a very consuming place, it can absorb you, it can drain you emotionally," Yami, who made her film debut with 2012's Vicky Donor, told PTI.
The actor says being respected both by the fraternity and audience is more important for her than raking in money. "Respect is important. For me, it is more important to be respected as an actor. If you are successful, money will come. If money is the basis to do films, it won't work. I have come here so far in a very hard way, I have come step-by-step but I never had money as a driving force or priority," she says.
Hailing from a middle class family and to be in a high maintenance profession, Yami says it is not easy to survive in the showbiz. "There is a certain vanity that comes along and the entourage that comes with you, they are your team. It depends on what you are comfortable with. I am extremely simple when I am not working. Some things do not matter to me. I am not a high maintenance person," she says.
When the 30-year-old actor is away from the arc lights, she says she loves spending time at home, in Chandigarh. Yami says she is comfortable with the way she is as a person and prefers conversations over parties.
"You make your own style without disrespecting anyone. I am more of an intimate person, I like personal gatherings. But I do go out at some places (events). It doesn't mean I do not have friends. "I cannot hang out with somebody just for the sake of it. I like simplicity, I like people who are simple. I like having conversations than just partying," she says.
In her last release Batti Gul Meter Chalu, Yami was seen as a lawyer and in her next Uri: The Surgical Strike she plays the role of an intelligence officer. She says taking up different roles is all about "breaking the mould of a Hindi film heroine".
"Today we are talking about new age India, the country and modern women, so why not portray it in films? I am glad that I am getting to play such roles. We should not get shackled by any mindset. We need to be brave in our choices as artistes," she adds.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)