Hema Malini

"My interest was dance and, in the beginning, I didn't enjoy acting at all. It was my mother who brought me into films and who looked after my career. I remember each time a producer came to meet her, my only reaction was, 'Oh God, another year of my life gone.'"

"Politics is a jungle where destinies change every evening."

"I have been chanting Soundarya Lahari, written by Adi Shankara for about 16 years now. It is very popular here in the South but not many know of it in North India and this is my offering for the pooja season. I meditate to these shlokas and am very happy that Suresh Wadkar and Shankar Mahadevan have contributed to it, with Amitabh Bachchan giving the introduction."

"I am glad I got to be part of such a historic film,” she says and pauses to think. And then adds, “The movie is still popular and that’s great. It also means that for as long as people remember the film, I will also be there in their memories. That’s special. And of course, it is not just Sholay but people also remember me for Seeta Aur Geeta. When I am in the U.S., I love travelling in cabs. And there have been times when Russian cab drivers recognised me and hummed a few tunes from the movie!"

"There is no other choice. Modiji has to come back. It will be dangerous for the country if someone else wins. That’s why we all (BJP members) are working hard to bring him back."

"We went to Kumbh, we had a very nice bath. It is right that an incident took place, but it was not a very big incident. I don't know how big it was. It is being exaggerated. It was very well-managed, and everything was done very well...So many people are coming, it is very difficult to manage but we are doing our best."

"Though I was too young to understand the complexities of marriage, I understand that the premise of their disagreement was unfair. Why must a woman have to give up her passion after marriage when the same is never asked of a man."

"It has been my most appreciated performance to date and though I have played myriad characters over the years, some how none was as complex or as passionate as Suadamini. The director later told me that the only reason he cast me was because I was a dancer and capable of delivering navarasas [nine forms]."

"I was cast opposite multiple heroes and as luck would have it, the chemistry worked with most."

"Learning the long lines and delivering them in one take was a nightmare, but Rameshji helped me as also the fact that I have a good memory. It is only when you become successful that you realize how everything contributes to your success."

"So many roles, so many trends, so many kinds of cinema and so many stories…I have projected different images during different decades, voiced different concerns –sometimes as a daughter, sometimes as a wife and mother- but often I ask myself if things have really changed. I am not sure."

"I made a serial called Nupur in which I danced for one particular shloka of Soundarya Lahari . The show was mostly about dance. It is then that I started learning to chant Soundarya Lahari . …People only know me as an actor and a dancer but recently I thought about doing this album."

"One day she will be the biggest star of the Indian screen."

"It has been more than three decades but Hema Malini’s passion for dance has not diminished. Starting in the early 70s with solo Bhratanatyam performances, the diva has reinvented herself at every stage of her career. When she felt that the pure classical dance form would not be appreciated by a less aware audience, she expanded her art form to include ballets."