'India is like one big happy family'

'2014 is an important year as everyone is obsessed about who is going to be the next prime minister, but I think we need to see beyond that. The problems are going to be the same, irrespective of whichever party forms the government,' says actress Soha Ali Khan in our special series where well-known Indians speak about the India they love.

I like the fact that India is a democratic country and despite the entire struggle India has gone through, the spirit of the country has still remained intact.

I like the diversity of the country. We have so many different languages, cultures, traditions and religions. I feel we celebrate the maximum number of festivals with much joy.

We are modern in our thoughts, yet we have kept our roots intact.

India is like one big happy family.

There is so much geographical diversity in our country.

In every part, there is something interesting happening all the time.

At the same time I am very concerned about the future of this country. I know 2014 is going to be an important year as everyone is obsessed about who is going to be the next prime minister, but I think we need to see beyond that.

The problems are going to be the same irrespective of whichever party forms the government.

We have a lot of issues like education, the healthcare system, climate change, which needs to be addressed, and our government is doing nothing about them.

Corruption is the root cause of everything.

The recent verdict passed by the Supreme Court about Section 377 or the way the Arushi murder case was covered is not an encouraging sign at all.

I understand that there is recognition of violence against women, but there seems to be selective victimisation of certain people as well.

As someone in the public limelight, I am worried because people are being victimised.

I had a friend who visited me from abroad and she was very happy about how women have started voicing their opinions like in the Tarun Tejpal episode, but at the same time she said that just one person cannot be in the headline for two weeks.

There are other important issues, which need to be highlighted and addressed.

Soha Ali Khan has acted in over 25 films. Her recent film Joe B Carvalho opened last week.

She spoke to Sonil Dedhia.

The complete series: Why I love India