Anu Agarwal became an overnight sensation in 1990 with the film Aashiqui. Unfortunately, she met with a serious road accident a few years later, which changed the course of her life. The actress suffered major injuries, her face was severely damaged and it took a long time for her to recover. But she is back now, all charged up, hoping to catch up on the time and opportunities that she may have lost. It’s tough to get a foothold in showbiz, she’s aware, but she wants to give it her best shot. Excerpts from an interview:

To begin with, let me clear one of the biggest misunderstandings there is about me. The accident was in no way instrumental in my leaving the entertainment business, I was out way before that. At a time when I was super successful, I was facing the dark night of the soul. Ironically, when the world thought I had everything, I was the unhappiest ever. So in 1994, I stopped signing new films. I travelled abroad and a top Hollywood agency even wanted me to sign up with them in 1996. I was excited, but I also wanted to self-develop, so I ended up joining the Bihar School of Yoga in 1997. That transformed me.

It was not just tough, it was a matter of life or death. I was in a coma. The question was not my recovery, but whether I would survive, and even if I did, would it be in a paralyzed state. I miraculously woke up from a 29-day coma, after which I was bedridden, half-body paralyzed and suffering from severe trauma. Nobody thought I would ever stand up, but I tried to stay positive. That’s because when I was in a coma, I had an out-of-body experience where I saw the other side. Even when the body broke into a million pieces and suffered multiple fractures, contrary to what everyone may have thought, I was absolutely sure that I would survive. I remember when I woke up, I felt like a newly born. But it did take me a long time to bounce back, it took me years.

Acting is a skill I am born with and this is an exciting time in the entertainment business with different mediums opening up and the film industry, too, is going through a revamp. Anyway, it was never easy. Supermodels were not welcome in Bollywood at that time, so in a way, I did break the mould then. I was too tall, too dusky, too forthright, too humourous, too supermodel in my fashion sense, too independent, too blunt... I was not in any way your quintessential heroine material. Regardless, my acting skills worked. To live life according to your principles and not as per social conditioning or expectations, is not easy.

In this Life 2, as I call it, I know the universal law. It says for best results, accept whatever is happening, but put your heart and soul into whatever you do. That is my approach to acting too. I just believe in using my mind creatively and not worrying about the outcome because that would be self-defeating. I believe in seeing the heart in the art, that has always been my approach.

Yes, but that was earlier. Today, nobody suggests this, as I am rejuvenated for all to see. On the other hand, now people think I have had a surgery as my face looks different from what it did a decade ago. I had many surgeries after the accident to mend my broken bones and to just get my body to be functional... basically, to just survive. Any surgery traumatises you and affects the rest of your body. Why would one pay to get that done? Also, I feel cosmetic surgeries are plastic and I am not attracted to anything which doesn’t go with the normal tune of nature. In my yoga studies, I was taught the holistic approach, where we do not treat a separate part, like a face, but treat the whole body alongside the mind and senses. I believe totally in the law of nature, which fundamentally focuses on the fact that we get what we give out. In the last few years, I have been busy with my foundation, focussing on helping underprivileged children and also on improving lives through yoga.

Not much, but I am just a phone call away.

Yes, sometimes, but then I have been too much of my own person practicing self-love. Also, I have been financially and emotionally independent since I remember growing up. Yoga has taught me one thing you are born alone and that is how you are going to die. When you truly understand this truth, it calms and changes your perspective towards life. I consider myself truly rich today; I have found my inner wealth, which is way bigger than any trillions that you can earn in materialism.