Both barrels of her double last name are loaded with pre-Independence history, from Assam to Andhra, but as the Hyderabadi tells us, her family pedigree doesn’t mean much in Bollywood. And that’s the way Aditi Rao Hydari likes it.

“I was studying in Delhi, when I was spotted, but I refused the film because of my exams,” Aditi recounts. “They waited, convinced me, and I ultimately did that film. It won various awards, I got calls for ads and I did some, ended up in Bombay and by some stroke of luck, got chosen for Sudhir Mishra’s film Yeh Saali Zindaagi and then did London Paris New York.”