Adah Sharma is a beautiful bundle of contradictions. She is impatient and greedy as an actor, but at the same time, painstakingly choosy about her films. She is extremely proud of the four Hindi films she has done in nine years. In an exclusive interview with BT, the actress gets talking about surviving in Bollywood on her own terms, equation with co-stars and how she's excited about kicking some serious butt in today's release, Commando 2: The Black Money Trail.

You have done just four Hindi films in nine years...
If it were up to me, I would have a release every Friday. I am a greedy actor, but I don't want to pick up something mediocre. Even if I have done just a handful of films, they have all fared well at the box office. I joke with my mom that she is so pretty, she should have been an actress; that would have made things easier for me. I am not shying away from hard work, neither am I saying that a certain actress got a film because she is a star kid. I believe that if you are talented, nobody can stop you. A stone fit for the wall will never be lying on the pavement for too long.

That kind of attitude requires a lot of patience...
Yes, but I am not patient (laughs). Also, I always do things on instinct. I don't see a role as an opportunity to break into a camp. People connect with me because I perform from my heart. The day I become calculative, I'll stop acting and switch to something else.

For someone so impatient, the wait could be killing. Did you ever feel like giving up?
I am impatient, but that's my madness, which keeps me going. Everyone is good-looking and talented, but what makes me push the envelope is my madness. Nobody can get close to my brand of madness. Having said that, I am not bitter. Rather than focussing on someone else's privileges, we should work harder, hone our skills and become better than others. I play every character in such a way that people can't think of anyone else in that role. During 1920, I didn't know anything about filmmaking. Every time someone said, 'Baby ko hatao', I would think they were talking about me and step aside. Eventually, I realised that they were talking about the light! I have learnt a lot over the years.

Are you happy with the way your career has shaped up in Bollywood?
Yes, I am proud of my debut film 1920, which was pure horror without eroticism. No one has doubted my acting skills after that. In Commando 2, my character is larger-than-life. I feel like I am the hero and it's like a star kid launch. The audience has been really kind to me; they accepted me right from my first release, which encourages me to take chances.

Commando 2 is essentially an action hero film. In such a scenario, weren't you apprehensive that your role might be limited?
I can promise that I have a lot to do in this film. I have always picked roles that have a huge scope for performance. The same is the case with Commando 2, I won't let my audience down. I promise them nothing less than two hours of full on entertainment. To be frank, I have never seen a character like mine in Commando 2 - her accent and how she says the most inappropriate things suddenly. Each line was well-written and that made my job easy. Some of my best performances have come when my lines were well-written and the character, well-sketched.

There were murmurs that you and your co-actor Esha Gupta shared cold vibes during the shoot...
Esha and I don't have too many scenes together. I get along with everyone I work with. You could put me on Mars and I'll have a lot of fun with the Martians.