I was studying in Class VIII in Baldwin Girls’ High School in Bangalore and was completely clueless about what I wanted to do with my life. Then I was bitten by the movie bug and was totally blown away by Shah Rukh Khan films. The movies determined my moods. When I watched a sad one, I would cry my eyes out while love stories would send me in a dream-like state. I was so smitten that I would look in the mirror and imitate actresses — Kajol in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Karisma Kapoor in Fiza. Soon it dawned on me that acting was what I wanted to do. It was like the piece of a puzzle falling into place.

Attending college at the National Institute of Management in Bangalore, from where I graduated in Business Management, changed my perspective completely. I was a typical convent girl — upright, moralistic, disciplined. The boys in college were the antithesis of all this and were brash, foul-mouthed and adventurous. This exposure made me more open as a person. The college years influenced my sense of humour, my preference of restaurants and cuisines, sports and to a large extent even the clothes that I wear today.

While I was dreaming of a career in acting, the thought of shifting to Mumbai — where I didn’t have any friends or contacts — seemed to be a really big move. But the television show Get Gorgeous — in which I took part in 2006 — simplified this move for me. Within two weeks of the show, I moved to Mumbai as I had landed a contract with the Elite Model Management India, one of the country’s premier modelling agencies. The show taught me a lot about grooming, make-up, the way we should carry ourselves during auditions and interviews — basics that I fall back on even now.

When I talk of exposure I cannot miss out on my Hollywood debut with the John Madden movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel with Dev Patel. The movie was an experience in itself for me. I learnt a lot from my co-actors and from the kind of technology that was used for filming. The film gave me a platform and has opened up a whole lot of opportunities for me.

(As told to Saimi Sattar)