"Maybe the man-woman love is not destined to happen for me. Fine. I'd rather accept this sad truth of my life rather than fall into the wrong relationship again. I won't allow any man to bring me down, ever.
"Whether it is my career or my personal life, I can't afford to make wrong moves at this stage when God has given me a second chance," said Manisha, who was pulled out of the jaws of death when she was detected with cancer.
"My world fell apart. But then the experience made me so much wiser and tolerant. It takes a life-threatening experience to make you realise the true value of life," added the wiser, older, but still breathtakingly beautiful Manisha.
Significantly, she plays a cancer patient in "Sanju".
She says it wasn't easy.
"To live through the pain, trauma and suffering again... It required a lot of inner strength to play Nargisji. But finally it was all worth it, because Nargis was such an iconic figure. I've tried to capture her essence, the core of her being. Just looking like her, or combing my hair the way she did, is not enough.I had to understand her spirit, her soul. Just how much I've succeeded, we will soon know."
Manisha says she now spends a lot of time doing her homework for her roles.
"This is new to me. I've always been a spontaneous actor. But for 'Sanju', I did a lot of research on Nargisji. The film focuses on Nargis the doting mother who wanted to protect her son from the truth about her health until his first film was released. Unfortunately, she passed away before her son debut film 'Rocky' released. This really broke him."
Clarifying on her 'brief role' in "Sanju", Manisha said: "What I meant was, perhaps all the female actors have less to do than Ranbir Kapoor in 'Sanju'. Ranbir Kapoor plays Sanjay Dutt and the film is about him.
Film also stars Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Jim Sarbh and Karishma Tanna in prominent roles.
'Sanju' is slated to release on 29th June.