The women in the our family are extremely lucky: Anu Hasan

Anu Hasan is an actress, a dubbing artiste, a TV host, an entrepreneur, writer, a basketball player, a trumpet player and if that���s not enough, an avid traveller. In the city for an event, she gave Hyderabad Times a sneak peek into her crazy life and the role of her illustrious surname:
What I learnt from my family���
I was Anuradha C in college, but once people got to know my surname, I got plenty of attention.But after a point, you learn to live with it. I don���t know if it was the genes or the environment that we grew up in, that all of us in the family ��� be it Kamal Haasan, Suhasini Maniratnam, Shruti Haasan and Akshara Haasan, have a penchant for acting, music and performing arts. My grandmother once told my uncle (Kamal Haasan) ���Even if you are a rag picker, remember that you must do your job so well that you should be the best at it���. And it���s a philosophy that all of us in the family have followed. I believe that the women in the Hasan family are extremely lucky because we have such fantastic men. They are extremely liberal and modern in their views. Even the women from the older generation are supercats!
The first lesson I learnt in life���
I used to ace all my exams and even in college, I felt I could do anything. I got my first reality check in BITS-Pilani where I did a dual degree in Physics and Management. One day, I called up my father and began crying. And he said, ���Do you think I sent you to college, that too in Rajasthan, to just get good grades? No. I wanted you to learn about life.��� So, I ended up doing everything except studying. And I made some really close friends who have been my pillar of strength for over 25 years now.
A life without any regrets���
My mother calls me a Thanjavur Bommai, because no matter how hard life has punched me, I have managed to bounce back. I am a very positive person and I love myself. Even when I got divorced, I dealt pain with blankness to begin with, and ended it with flippancy.
Being a travel junkie���
I have had my so called wild days and my friends tell me that I don���t need to party or smoke up to be on a high. I love travelling alone and once, when I pointed my finger at the map and decided to travel there, I ended up in Cyprus. I travelled around a bit there and went to a dam site all alone. When I came back, I was told that the whole area was infested with rattle snakes. It���s more stupid than wild when I think about it now.
How I got into acting���
My cousin Suhasini Maniratnam was about to direct her first Tamil film, Indira and she asked me if I could act and I said didn���t want to. She retorted, ���It���s not a question of whether you want to or not, I am asking you if you know how to act.��� My ego was hurt and I wanted to prove a point. And before I knew it, I had auditioned for the film and got the lead role.
You have to learn to like yourself first���
I did the role of a cop in a Tamil film and in another film, Aakki, I did the role of a hockey coach. I believe that women are so concerned about how they look that they lose out on some interesting opportunities. I may not look nice as a coach, but I look the part. You have to learn to like yourself first. I have no illusions about my looks.
I can���t say the ���F��� word���
Last year, I shot for a British TV series, Cucumber, a gay drama. In one of the scenes, I had to say the ���F��� word, but no matter how hard I tried, during the rehearsals, I couldn���t get myself to get it right. I don���t know how I managed to say it during the actual shoot. Believe it or not, I have never said the ���F��� word ever in my life before filming that scene.