She made a stunning debut with Dangal, but Fatima Sana Shaikh says getting a perfect launch pad was not a cakewalk as people told her she did not have the "looks" of a heroine like Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif.

Fatima, who started her journey in the movies as a child actor with Kamal Haasan's 1997 film Chachi 420, says the rejections shifted her focus from waiting for a conventional lead role to searching for a good character.