Quotes from Waheeda Rehman

When I was offered 'Abhijaan,' I didn't know any Bengali. But Satyajit Ray insisted, saying my character spoke a mixture of Bhojpuri, Hindi, Urdu and Bengali. I agreed only because he had faith in me.

I never stopped myself from doing difficult roles.

It is strange, but directors have always shown more confidence in my abilities than I've in myself.

As an actor there is an urge to act only if something really interesting comes my way.

I strongly feel, for me to act in any movie, the director of the movie should be known to me. Though this fact should not be important for most artists. But, you can either call me shy or traditional in my thinking - but this is an important aspect for me to sign movies.

I know we're public figures, but I strongly believe my private life should remain private. What ultimately matters and concerns the world is the work we leave behind.

Call it my good luck or my open-minded nature; I never felt that I was overshadowed by my co-stars.

When I signed 'Guide,' my colleagues in the industry said that I was doing a big mistake. They even said that this might be my last film because that was the phase when actresses in the industry were portrayed as submissive women. We used to do love stories or family dramas where women were ideal in every role.

I was quite adamant that I will not change my name as it was given by my parents.

Yes, my acting was not stylised. I always underplayed, maybe because I never learnt acting.

Courage is something I learnt from my father.

I got the role of a lifetime in Rajinder Singh Bedi's 'Phagun' in 1973. I had to play Jaya Bachchan's mother. That did it for me. I was suddenly flooded with mother's roles.

If you want to do something and make up your mind about it, you do take out the time.