'That the people who matter are the ones who loved you and stood by you when you were not famous or successful.'
"First impressions matter. That's what Bollywood has taught me. I never cared about these things before," Swara Bhasker tells Ronjita Kulkarni/Rediff.com.
The actress, who says she has got a 'different kind of love story with social media', thanks to her frank speak on Twitter, has learnt a lot from her 11-year acting career in Bollywood.
"It has taught me that the world and public opinion can be quite shallow because people tend to judge you on how you look."=
"It has humbled me, and made me recognise talent and to recognise the value the creativity. It doesn't have to be a box office hit to be a good film."
"I didn't even the 'airport look' existed so that's the great gyaan I got from Bollywood."
Of course, there's a lot more.
Swara lists her 10 learnings from Bollywood right here:
1. How to wear, stand straight and walk in heels.
2. Bollywood taught me to lose my intellectual arrogance and become a more empathetic person.
3. That emotions achieve what intellectual theories cannot.
4. That first impressions matter.
5. That photographs last forever. So never leave the house dressed in your PJs even if it's just a grocery run.
6. That everything our parents and traditional wisdom taught us about human nature is true.
7. That beauty is a construct -- by make up, photoshop and VFX.
8. That fame and stardom are a construct of the media and PR agencies.
9. That the people who matter are the ones who loved you and stood by you when you were not famous or successful.
10. That the world is very big, beautiful, interesting and full of possibilities and Bollywood is a very miniscule part of that.
