Quotes

[In 2012, when she was 60 years old] Lot of people ask me how I'm ageing gracefully; I guess that is no big deal. I coloured my hair grey to look old even when I young, when I can do it on screen why have qualms now? After reaching 40, doesn't your hair turn grey, don't you walk an extra mile to be slim? Why should I spend lakhs of rupees to tighten my skin, look like a teenager and compete with my grandchildren? I should maintain health - physical and mental - and maintain healthy relationships and not like a body whose post mortem has just been done.

[on why she didn't act in more Hindi films after Julie (1975)]That was the time when I already had a happening career in the South. A lot of female-oriented films were being offered to me. I was not mad enough to ditch those kind of roles for that of a simpering, scantily clad woman who only had to shout "Bachao, mujhe bachao"![Save me] In retrospective I should have taken it up. But there were already enough good heroines in Bollywood and I did not want to fight for roles. Besides I was quite comfortable at home and with all four languages in the south.

When I started acting in 1968 there was no concept of professional training. You learned about acting out of experience. It was up to you to apply your mind and refine your technique. Acting is a piece of cake when compared to hosting talk shows. Sometimes it is as if I act to relax.

[on adopting her second daughter when she was in her fifties] I would say she adopted us as parents. Our attitude as parents at this stage in life is different, our approach and behavior is not the same when we are 19, the age when I gave birth to my first daughter Aishwariyaa Bhaskaran