Sonam Kapoor said she loves her father, famed actor Anil Kapoor, but she'd appreciate the opportunity to carve her own career out of his shadow.

"I want him to be my dad, not my stepping stone," the actress told The Times of India on May 24. "I go to him for advice where my personal life is concerned as he is more liberal than my mother. He wants us to be friends with him, but I want to talk to him in a certain way and give him that respect as I have strong Indian values."

She credited her father for guiding her personally but not professionally after the poor box office performance of her debut film, Saawariya.

"After Saawariya, I lost my way in between, but I did not want to use my dad's stardom to prop myself up as he has worked so hard for it and I don't want to use him for anything," she said.

Sonam's father is very likely her fiercest ally and has in the past stepped up to defend his daughter from her detractors. When she was criticized by her Aisha co-star Abhay Deol, Anil hit back at the younger actor on a 2010 episode of Karan Johar's chat show Koffee with Karan. Anil claimed that Deol "needs help... in every way! There's something terribly wrong with the guy."

He is willing to give credit where its due, however, and according to Sonam, he's been singing the praises of her upcoming film, Raanjhanaa. He told the Indo-Asian News Service it was a "earthy love story" and also said good things about her co-star, actor/singer Dhanush.

"He [Anil Kapoor] liked the promo of Raanjhanaa and whatever I do he likes it," she said. "However, he always talks about Dhanush and always praises him."

The compliments are nothing compared to the praise Sonam has lavished him. She even suggested that "I have to go to Tamil Nadu to find a guy like him."

"He is simple and honest [and] his personality is so real," the actress said of Dhanush, who make his Hindi language debut in the upcoming film. "I think there is no one who has a spirit that so clean as [his]. There is lot of innocence in the way he approaches everything."

Both Kapoors, father and daughter, appear together in the film Bombay Talkies, recently presented at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Raanjhanaa is set to open in India and the U.K. on June 21.

Tags: Sonam Kapoor