I'm making a conscious effort to not just be a mother, says Soha Ali Khan

Actress-author Soha Ali Khan says she has been a mother for over nine months and is now making a conscious effort to step away a little bit and find ways to embrace other aspects of her life.

Soha, who is married to actor Kunal Kemmu, gave birth to their daughter Inaaya in September 2017.

On her priority at the moment, Soha told IANS: "It has to be Inaaya."

"Everything is different and I have to actually work towards achieving a balance because I'm a kind of person that when something happens I get so involved in it and make it like a project. I'm very single minded in my approach and it's very important to balance.

"I'm actually making a conscious effort now to step away a little bit and to take on other things, to embrace my other identities because I have been a mother now for nine months almost and I have loved it," she said in an email interview.

Soha says she "crumbles" when she is not with her daughter.

"The more time I spend with her, the more difficult it is to walk away and I know she is fine without me, and I'm the one who crumbles without her.

"It's like a contrast where you want her to be dependent on you but you also need her to be independent. So it is more about me and I know it is more important for me to go back to work and have my own life because soon she is going to have her own friends and then she is going to be like, 'Please, I don't want to hang out with you' and I'll just be destroyed if I don't have something of my own going on."

The youngest daughter of Bollywood veteran Sharmila Tagore and late cricket legend like Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, sister of actor Saif Ali Khan and sister-in-law of actress Kareena Kapoor Khan, Soha has received a positive response for her portrayal in films like "Rang De Basanti", "Khoya Khoya Chand", "Tum Mile" and "Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns". She was last seen on-screen in "Ghayal Once Again".

Soha also made a name for herself when she came out with her book "The Perils of Being Moderately Famous" last year.

"I got back to Bollywood in December. I did it for 'Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3' when Inaaya was 2 months. It wasn't a huge time commitment; it was just to keep me alive in this multi-part series of 'Saheeb Biwi aur Gangaster', so that was fun," added the actress, who launched Ayurveda skincare brand Shankara Naturals in India earlier this month.

"Then there are two scripts running at the moment both of which I like and want to do. We just need to figure it out and I'm happy that they are taking time to figure it out because it just gives me more time," she added.

What about writing another book?

"There is a contract lying on my computer that I haven't signed for two books and I'm very keen to sign. But I know when I'll sign it, I'll have to get to work.

"I thought my next book should be called 'Perils of Parenting' and we do perils of living. It's like the perils will be moderately famous and the perils are parenting and I don't know the perils are writing a book or something... I don't know the third one, but I want it to be humourous. I'm struggling with how to write about becoming a mother (in a) humourous (way) without offending anybody."

(Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)

--IANS

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