Welcome to NDTV Good Times - What are you searching for?

As a kid, I always had a very strong hunch that I would become an actress. It wasn't something like I want to become one, it was like I will be one!

I've always been inspired by old classics and love Kishore Kumar's films. Animation fascinated me. Jungle Book was like a daily meal for me and Mowgli, I think was one of the cutest things I'd ever seen.

When it comes to music, I still love Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi and Asha Bhonsle. A favourite place of mine is the bookstore. I've just started reading Sidney Sheldon and I want to complete his entire series.

Autobiographies also interest me. In fact, I want to read Al Pacino's autobiography as he is one of my favourite Hollywood actors. Astrology, talking about past experiences, the supernatural... are all concepts that fascinate me.

I can never forget this one incident that happened as a kid...I was passing RK Studios, I looked at the gate and I told myself, I'm going to cross that gate and nobody will stop me!
It was like a little girl's wish that came true, now that I look back I'm actually quite amused at my confidence.

I was very studious in college and when the merit list came, I wanted to do so much more academically. But I guess destiny had something else planned for me.

Ad films happened...Suddenly I was working with some of the most creative directors in the industry. It was all very exciting and there was this great desire to prove and to experience the joy of being and seeing myself on screen.

There are so many girls out there who strive to be an actress, to be on the 70 mm, I realise that it's not something to be taken for granted. So even when I'm not working, I sit and make a list of things I need to do, I need to plan. I want make the most of my presence here.

I still feel like that same girl before she entered the glamour world. I don't want to change myself because one day this phase may go away and I will still remain the way I am and people around me will love me for the person I am.

I've always been inspired by young achievers. People who are self-made, like my Dad. I've grown up looking up to him. He is self-made, without any influence, without any kind of family support. For me that is important.

For me someone like Juhi Chawla, Anil Kapoor, SRK...are people who have achieved phenomenal success. But what I like about them is that they haven't lost their realness. They're still people who do regular things, they are like you and me and that's what inspires me all the time.

People around me tell me that you have this kind of exclusivity, you choose to remain elusive. Everybody wants to know who the real Amrita is but this is me!
I could be the girl in your neighbourhood, I could be someone you know, like a friend you know, the regular girl.

Ishq Vishk is one memory, one film that will stay with me forever. I still sometimes close my eyes and feel that heat of summer, that freshness, shooting in college and it felt like your first day in campus.
Everybody was so new and wanting to prove so much, including my director Ken Ghosh. All of us, all that energy summed up for what became a bumper hit.

Main Hoon Na was again the right film at the right time. Farah Khan didn't know me from Jill, it was one of my ads that caught her eye. I auditioned, and again working with one of the biggest actors in the industry SRK!
I must say that Mr SRK is not at all intimidating.

If I was not an actress, I would be pursuing clinical psychology or I would try my hand at advertising. I like creative things, I like thinking of new things, it maybe captions or concepts.

I'm 11 films old now, yet each day when I walk into a film, I feel like a newcomer. There's so much to learn, there's so much to prove, this process is endless.

I guess for an actor the competition is not with other actors but the previous work you've left behind. The challenge becomes to do something better and something different.
I have never believed in the concept of trying to upstage your co-actor. I think as actors we must work together and if we do, the scene will work.

As an experience, acting involves understanding the other actors working with you. Being as cooperative as possible, being as adjusting as possible. Sometimes you have to remember that it's not always your scene which is important.

Today when I play roles, I want girls to say, hey, she's just like my friend or maybe I would have reacted like this, to be able to connect with me.

It's great that I come from a background which is rooted. I have people, I have family members who give me a reality check everyday. They have been the strongest support and also my source of encouragement.

Acting to me is a soulful experience, acting allows you to experience emotions that I may not feel leading just one life, it allows you to lead several lives in one. And that could happen only to an actress.