Bollywood is a great place to be in, accepts actor Malaika Arora, adding, “I think there’s a wish to experiment and try out something new. That’s probably how I got inspired.”  Although, she does agree there may have been a sense of insecurity in the industry too.

The actor has been in the spotlight for almost two decades. She first started her career as a video jockey and slowly entered Bollywood with various item numbers like Chaiyya-Chaiyya (1998) to Munni Badnam in 2010, that shot her to fame. In this brief span, she also made cameo appearances and has gone on to produce films.

Malaika was very young — barely a graduate — when she first entered the showbiz world. She still recalls not knowing how to go about things and how she just went on with the flow. Now she is upbeat about her work in Bollywood and calls it a “work revolution.”

In the world of glamour and glitz, paparazzi is bound to storm celebrities — a fact, she accepts, adding, “You’ll find it everywhere. It has been instrumental in changing so many lives. This trend has just caught up here (in Bollywood), recently.”

She advises, “If you are in show business, you have got to take it in your stride. If you are not comfortable with it (paparazzi), make it known or don’t be in this business. Despite being photographed without consent, Malaika says she does not object to the paparazzi culture as she feels at the end of the day, they’re doing their job.

Malaika and fashion go hand-in-hand. She has often been photographed while traveling to the airport, which has gone viral on social media. When asked about the fact whether she specifically allocates outfits for traveling, she says, “Not at all! I find them (dressing up for airport looks) very over-rated. When you are traveling, you’ve got to be comfortable. That is most important.”

Malaika, who was recently in the Capital for a collaboration with liquor giant Chivas as its sense of fantasy, comments, “There’s a certain level of intrigue, a level of wanting to experiment. I love the whole genre of fantasy.”

She is upbeat about the fact that the issue of work parity in Bollywood wherein celebs given work based on their marital status, has toned down compared to what it was a few years ago. “Earlier, probably, there was a shelf life for married women in the industry. I think now that entire trend has changed and I think that it’s a good thing”, she says.

The actor, recently, opened up about her separation with Arbaaz Khan after 19 years of marriage on the famous show What Women Want hosted by Kareena Kapoor Khan where she had said, “We were just two people in a situation where we were making each other extremely unhappy which was impacting the people around us.” When asked about what is the best advice she received when she announced that she was getting a divorce she said, “If this is the decision that you’re making, then we are really proud of you and in our eyes you are a really strong woman… this is what gave me the extra strength that I needed.”

She advises women going through the same phase, “Don’t let anybody bring you down or tell you that you are any less of a person or a woman. Just make sure that you’re a strong and wonderful woman.”

On the issue of how to manage a hectic and grueling work life, how does she still manage to find time to spend with her 16-year-old son, Malaika says, “My 16-year-old has seen me go to work since he’s been a child so he knows that’s how it is…I think we manage pretty good.” She later adds, “At the end of the day, when I go back to my son and spend that quality time with him...it’s all that matters.”