Actress Amrita Rao, who recently delivered her first child, says this is a special year as she has entered the crucial chapter of motherhood. She adds that she will celebrate Diwali with her family.

"I am excited to celebrate this Diwali. This is the first for me and our whole family with our newborn, Veer. As parents of our child, me and my husband (RJ Anmol) are excited. We are now all gathered, including our mother, sister, in-laws, and grandparents. I think we will all dress up and click pictures like it happens in every Sooraj Barjatya film!" laughed Amrita while conversing with IANS.

"Though we are not planning to release our son's picture just now, we have a great reason to make this Diwali special. My life really has changed 360-degree like every new mother. My daily routine, my lifestyle, all of it centres on his sleeping and feeding time, but I am so happy to be a mother," the actress shared.

Amrita and Anmol became parents on November 1. The actress, who was last seen in the Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer biopic "Thackeray", says she had several offers but her priorities was motherhood for now.

"After the release of 'Thackeray' in 2019, I was in talks with filmmakers for several projects. This year, in fact, certain things were supposed to materialise but got delayed and then as we all know, the global pandemic stopped the world. Now I am going to take my sweet time of six months, and I think everything will get into full swing in six months' time. So, I think this timing is good," said Amrita.

She wants to start workingas well as enjoy motherhood. "I think I want to do both. I am a mother but I also want to go back to the film set. It is tough for a mother, especially emotionally to leave a cute little baby at home and go to work. But that is also a discipline. From birth, a child is always latching onto his mother, physically and emotionally. So, for every working mother, especially of small children, it is like leaving 'jigad ka tukda' home. But this is an exemplary way of living as a parent. More than anything, I love acting, I love my job. I want to enjoy things that I am passionate about, which, for an actor, is acting," Amrita signed off.

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)