Film producers from India

"Rani Mukerji"

"Don't be negative. It shows on your face."

"I am like a Rolls Royce which can run without an engine, just on reputation."

"I am not confident unless I am playing someone else."

"I am very shy. If I am flying British Airways and the airhostess asks me two questions, and I don't understand her accent - I will go hungry for the entire flight."

"I don't sit around complaining about the lack of good roles. I will play Raj 85 times and still make him different."

"I think if you take sexuality very seriously it becomes very oily."

"If you get bored with the person you married for love, there's something wrong with you - not with that person."

"Often I don't say hello to people for fear that they may not remember me."

"You never win the silver. You only lose the gold."

"There is no alternative to work. I find nothing nicer than working. MK tells me that I am a workaholic. If I don’t work I get a headache and I feel depressed. I like to work round the clock all the time."

"On some rare occasions I do go to cinema theatres abroad. But if you really ask me I would rather watch a film on DVD all alone in the dark environs of my car or my home."

"It has varied. I don’t know if it’s good or bad but a dear friend of mine Aziz (Mirza) asked me not to do Don. I was also told to cut my hair and to change my name because someone said that there couldn’t be a movie star by the name of Shah Rukh Khan. (when asked the worst piece of professional advice that someone has given him)"

"Recently somebody asked me if I’m still in touch with my feminine side. They ask me why did I do the Lux ad and things like that. I think there is a feminine side to me, as people like to assume."

"It makes it easier to get happiness. I do believe in a material world to a certain extent. I think material happiness is quite an important step before you look for spiritual happiness. There are people who think the other way round. They might also be right. But in the kind of education and the world where I have grown up, and we all are growing up, a certain level of consumerism become a reality. (as an answer to the question: Do you think that money can buy happiness?)"

"I never yell at kids. I just hug them hard and threaten them not to do something again. I would never be aggressive with a woman or a little child. I would rather die before I raise hand on a little kid or a lady."

"I would want my children to grow up and do what they wish to in a field that they choose to step in. They should not have to use the shadow of their father’s name. I think that is a bit of a downer for a movie star’s children."

"When I get up in the morning and have to go to work and jump off things that may be quite dangerous, the payback isn’t the bigger car, but it’s that someone somewhere will smile a lot."

"Making a movie has to be artistic. You have to look back and say, ‘I did this because I had fun.’"

"I’m completely ordinary."

"I don’t sit down with the scripts. As long as I like the people I’m working with that’s enough for me."

"I am happy making the films I make and I would like the West to be impressed with what we do from India."

"Actually another thing that keeps me going in the industry is trying to do a film that impresses [his kids]."

"I don’t make my kids say I’m their favorite star."

"Hero is a misnomer. India is the only place left in the world where we call our stars heroes and heroines."

"As long as the women I’m romancing are happy with me doing it then I’ll carry on."

"Successful people do things, and get over with it, and leave others to live their life off it. I DO them. And then I leave it to others to live their life off it."

"It is so strange - if anyone takes my name, I have the ability to make them famous."

"That if you want to be famous, you take your dad's name. And I said the only persons I don't want to be famous by taking my name are [Aryan, his son] and [Suhana, his daughter]. Let the rest of the world do that."

"Sometimes I don't want to dignify things with answers. And it takes a huge amount of self-restraint, patience, control, and love for your own family, to keep quiet. And dignity, and perhaps the status that I have in the eyes of the people."

"Success makes people - people not related to you or to your field - like to take a dig at you."

"I think I invoke radical passions in people - and that is why I am such a big star!"

"I've become a free-for-all brand. I hope they come out with a rule that they can't use a person's name without paying him for it!"

"The audience's preferences for films are in black and white. They either like a film or they don't."

"I've been there, done it all. I'm very clear about my priorities as an entertainer. I want the audience to feel good when they watch me. That's what I'm paid for. Why should I sell anything else?"

"I don't think I've achieved superstardom. One has to achieve much more. My next level is the next shot I do. When I see some of my shots, I wonder why I did them so badly. Audiences and critics don't know about these shots. But I know. These moments remain very personal."

"I feel very strongly about souls who are misguiding people in the name of religion."

"I only hope that people enjoy viewing the film I’ve enjoyed making. I don’t know whether the film we’ve made is commercial or not, whether it’s good or not, but I do know that we’ve made it honestly and that we've enjoyed making it. I just hope it has turned out to be the film we had set out to make."

"My biggest enemy, incidentally, is my ‘next time.’ I’m neither being immodest when I say that my next will be even better nor am I being humble when I say that this is less than what my next film will be."

"If money-making was my aim, I could have done two ad films or shows and earned the same amount of money -- probably more -- in just two or four days."

"A person must buy my film only if he feels good about it, not otherwise."

"I don’t normally comment about my own films. But my judgment of films is excellent, it is better than yours."

"After all, what is a film? It is selling of a dream. We have to tell lies to people, we have to sell them dreams."

"I bring excitement on the sets. I’m an exciting actor, overrated, exaggerated. But I’m not an unexciting actor. I excite people. I never lose hope. If I feel that a film is going wrong somewhere, I do even better."

"My films do well only because they are good, not because of me."

"Like beauty, stardom too is skin-deep."

"Films are an art form which are sold after packaging in this commercial world."

"I am not insecure enough to count the bouquets I receive on my birthday, I don’t assess my popularity by the number of magazine covers I am on, I don’t get worried if my song is on the seventh position on countdown charts."

"I take care not to remind my audience that I am Shah Rukh Khan. The better thing to do is to hold a mirror for them and to tell them, ‘This is you.’"

"I am popular for all that I’ve done on the screen. That is why I’m never ashamed of what I’ve done in front of the camera, nor am I extra-proud of what I’ve done."

"See, these things like enmity and fighting... I don’t think I am at that age anymore."

"I don’t feel ill about anyone. I don’t even feel nice about anyone. I just don’t think about them. I am selfish that way. I think about myself, my films and my friends."

"Just because I am cheerful and jovial and look good, doesn’t mean that I can’t act."

"I believe that my wife is the most beautiful woman in the world."

"Films and filmmakers and actors are part of a strange art form, which is only measured by the yardstick of commerce. So it's a dichotomy; it'll always be so."

"I believe my nation is truly secular, I truly believe that."

"It takes a lot of intellect to be able to convince people to believe in fantasy – but people don't seem to be able to recognize that."

"I like talking when people ask me sensible questions. Ask me senseless questions also, but in a context, and I can have fun, I can make you laugh at my answers."

"I don't think movie stars are nationally relevant – it's as simple as that."

"We are not supposed to have an opinion. If we have an opinion, it has to be controversial – that is how we are always projected. It is difficult."

"I may say things with the right intention, but more often than not, people will misconstrue it."

"If I'm ever asked to do something in the national interest, do a project of national relevance, it's not as if I will not charge for it, but I will ensure that what I give back is not just worth that money, but is a little more than that."

"If somebody is working very hard, or deserves a lot of money, pay him upfront, say he is going to be working for so much time, he deserves it – and then put the rest of the money where it should go. But unfortunately, that sort of transparency is rarely there."

"Creativity has this problem, sometimes it'll be liked, sometimes it won't. It's unfortunate that perhaps we expected something more popular from this music, and it isn't that. See, this is very subjective. You will find enough people who like that also, I think."

"If I leave Pepsi, and later Coke tells me to do something for them, I'd do it. I have no issues, whether Coke and Pepsi have different ideologies or not. See, I'm called for a job, I'd do it."

"I believe it is my job to tell people about what the good points of either company are. I'm not lying in either case."

"I am not someone who believes to doing a film just because it is off beat."

"The essence is that I leave something of me in every role — not 100 per cent."

"I am the same old actor. When people question me I really look back and think but I feel people love characters like Rahul or Raj because they are different. Every role is different and I am not reinventing myself as an actor."

"I believe the show must go on."

"My strength to work in such situations comes from my family and people who love to watch me."

"I am where I never thought I would be. I got much more than what I had expected. I am strong believer in God, hard work and honesty."

"My family likes me as a person and not because I am an actor. I never mix the two. I don't know how much I earn or how many awards I have received."

"Money is a good thing to run after. It is very important to be financially stable but you have to keep your wrongs and rights in mind. Don't shy away from earning but without selling your soul."

"It should be a good story— speak about a time and place that is permanent. It should capture something wonderful with some great characters whether it's set in the past or in the future."

"When we first began, Ruth told us she had never written a screenplay. That was not a problem since I had never produced a feature film and Jim had never directed one."

"The greatness of a culture can be found in its festivals."

"Can AI produce real art? The art world thrives on rarity. Much like diamonds, which require millions of years of tectonic pressure to form, true art requires the human mind and a lifetime of mastering the medium. AI produces the 'industrial' equivalent—a flood of the common and the non-rare—destining it for the overcrowded slushpile at the base of the pyramid where no one bothers to look."

"Marriage is like a table with four legs - the couple, the children, the parents and the in-laws. Break any of these and the marriage crashes to the floor"

"The case for meat-eaters - if eating meat is a sin, then why are some plants carnivorous?"

"A writer creates life; a poet creates magic from life; a philosopher tries to understand life."

"When facing a big challenge, break it down to smaller ones first."

"No one person is inherently more intelligent than another; we all simply excel in different areas of intelligence."

"Religion is god's population-control tool."

"The greatness of a culture can be found in its thinkers"

"There can't be highs on a roller coaster without the lows. Life works the same way."

"Learn to find happiness even in sadness. If you seek it only in joy, you may lose it one day and be left empty-handed."

"You may capture a man's attention with your looks for a moment, but it's your character that holds it for a lifetime."

"Anything gained through ignorance is destined to be lost in the same way."

"My approach to life is simple: never do anything I wouldn’t want to include in my autobiography."

"The clearest water is born from the journey through the muddiest mountains."

"Life is like the inside of a box that we can never open."

"Marriage is God's way of making sure there are only a few great men."

"Never engage with people on a negative path, as they may lead you toward ruin. Instead, guide them toward positivity, even if it risks your friendship."

"Greatness is the reward for genius...only a few can be great, the rest are plain good."

"The greatness of a culture can be found in it's art"

"Even the humblest men have a strange reason behind greed. Every man thinks money solves problems - and every man thinks not just of himself, but his next three generations - there is a probability he will live to see those generations - and he wants to care for them in times of strife."

"Religion can often be the fastest route to ignorance."

"Power in the hands of the ignorant can be a perilous thing, as demonstrated by Hitler."

"Marriage is a daily lesson in recognizing our flaws"

"A little arrogance in the hands of the capable is well earned - and in most case, deserved."

"When couples start a family, they sacrifice personal love for the greater responsibility of raising their children into good human beings. Nothing should distract them from that goal until their kids are independent."

"Transportation has complicated our lives; without it, we would have everything we need within walking distance."

"Mastering an art is like climbing a passion mountain; when you reach the top, the passion fades. So, keep learning."

"Couples should keep their love pure before it poisons the purest love of all - that between them and their children"

"Progress of mankind is the decadence of humanity."

"Couples often forget that after marriage and children, it’s no longer just a 'relationship' — it’s a family, a responsibility for life."

"Being a good human is simple: be a good son, husband, parent, and citizen."

"Life is a series of small sorrows that ultimately lead to great joy. Learn to wait for it."

"God exists...but only in our minds"

"The God of religion is a creation of mankind; the true God is beyond human comprehension."

"Arranged Marriages don't always have to be risky. Get to know your future in-laws. She's bound to be like one of them."

"The purest love is between parents and children. Other loves may be more thrilling, but none are as deep or enduring."

"Writing can only be as good as its subject matter."

"The case for vegetarians - plants cure illnesses (heard of Ayurveda). Animal diets cause most illnesses (heard of the China Study."

"Remember: the mother gives fuel for the journey, but the father is the road that transports you"

"Never base your value on your body alone, or you risk being devalued."

"Don’t blend in like a chameleon; shape your surroundings to reflect who you are."

"It’s more important to avoid making enemies than to focus on making friends."

"Someone who lives to please others is never truly honest with themselves."

"A boy asks his father to make his kite indestructible. The father replies, "Son, if you do that, it will be strong, but it will never fly. Life is all about making compromises"

"What you desire is always in the past or the future, existing only in your dreams"

"The coward often takes out his anger on his family because they are the only ones who will not fight back"

"Communicating with your kids is a million times more important than disciplining."

"First, learn enough to conquer your dreams, then keep learning."

"Learning is a seed that blossoms into a plant and then a tree, but it still needs the sunlight of imagination to thrive"

"War can set us back centuries, but sometimes it is necessary to correct the course of mankind."

"Health is what you eat... and think"

"DON'T BE afraid to be alone. IT IS THEN you are with the creator"

"Being in a group is fun, but embrace solitude if you want to achieve something."

"I see no dishonor in a woman selling her body to support her children; the dishonor lies with a society that has placed her in that position."

"The search for truth is often costly, for truth comes at a price"

"Claiming there is no creator is like saying a car assembled itself from iron ore."

"Racism is the fastest way to demonstrate your inferiority, not your superiority."

"Living in the past is merely an excuse to avoid forgiving."

"Never dam the loves in your life, or they will overflow and destroy you"

"Bitterness is dwelling in the past, while positivity is embracing the future."

"Every problem has two sides. It’s easy to blame both sides on others, but the hardest part is taking ownership of your side and fixing it."

"As long as there is hurt, it's a sign there is love. Once you stop hurting, you love has died"

"In the end, a religion can be judged by these simple measures: how it treats its women, how it cares for the helpless, and how it respects other religions."

"A stranger is often more interesting than the familiar because your brain craves new experiences. But remember, it’s the familiar who truly cares about you"

"Wicked people often manipulate you into feeling guilty for their wrongdoings. When you encounter one, it's best to run"

"Everyone is born to do something in this world. WE cannot ALL be MICHAEL JORDON or a PICCASsO - BUT WE ALL HAVE A gift. Learn to identify that gift and pursue it with all your heart"

"Life is a crash course for your next one"

"Learn to be your own best friend, as there will be times when you have no one else."

"Don’t be afraid of being alone. We were born alone and will die alone"

"Live not for food, but for food for thought"

"Is love merely a cog in the wheel of the illusion of our species' procreation?"

"Is love just an illusion in the procreation of our species, then women are the magicians that cast it"

"Youth is a chance to be the stupid version of yourself that you can laugh at when you're older and wiser"

"It’s when you’re losing that your true nature reveals itself"

"It’s when you’re losing that your true nature reveals itself. Be your best self even in loss"

"Parents with a bad attitude can’t expect children with a good one. Fix yourself first."

"Beauty is the biggest enemy of attitude"

"A country or culture can be best judged by how it treats its minorities"

"Great are those that are remembered for all the right reasons when they’re gone"

"Death is the moment when you stop believing in lies and learn the greatest truth"

"Death is the moment we receive a grade for the life we lived"

"YOUR LIFE IS GRADED...but WE don’t get extra credits for praying— only FOR good deeds"

"Unless you are one with all humans, you are not human"

"If the mother is the boat's canopy, offering shelter to her children, the father is the sail and rudder, guiding them forward"

"Switching from one religion to another is like repeating the same error in a different form. As humanity grows wiser, the only meaningful conversion is beyond religion itself."

"Blaming others is the quickest route to stall your own growth."

"The Happiness Index of a culture can be judged by its festivals"

"Festivals are where you see the heart of a culture beating"

"Festivals are like rain after a long hot summer. They bring people together like dancing in the rain."

"Festivals celebrate the human race, in how we’ve conquered the Earth, the Skies and the Waters, and most importantly, our own collective vices."

"Every day should be a festival."

"Let festivals be a time when we all come together as one, equal in our shared humanity."

"Vanity is the new modern day slavery"

"if Men are enslaved by the lure of money, women are by vanity"

"racism is arrogance at the highest level"

"Racism is like blind men sitting in a dark room, convinced there’s nothing beyond its walls."

"Racism is a sweeping stroke of the brush of arrogance to demean an entire race, merely to assert one’s own superiority."

"Racism stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of human history."

"Weddings are festivals between festivals"

"Weddings are occasions where couples make vows and promises they cannot keep"

"Weddings are what keeps customs alive"

"Weddings are days when the unwed dream of theirs... and the wedded regret theirs."

"If culture were a living body, festivals are its beating heart."

"Happiness lies in family, pursuing your passions, and having enough money to enjoy both."

"The true happiness of a country is reflected in the eyes of its children."

"Change others only after you have transformed yourself."

"Changing others is simple; changing yourself is the real challenge."

"Change is the greatest mental barrier, but once you overcome it, new opportunities unfold."

"Change is impossible in a religion that thinks it’s seen the last prophet. Prophets come and go, and we have to change with them"

"I create art because a single image can convey a thousand words."

"I do art because I can’t convey certain ideas through other means"

"I do art because it's my shot at eternity"

"Tolerance is the ability to accept another's views, even when you believe they are incorrect."

"Tolerance involves pointing out what you believe to be another's mistake while allowing them to find their own path, rather than imposing yours on them"

"If tolerance were bees then its hive is in India"

"That is not with me. It is up to the directors to give me roles that might fetch awards."

"I cannot be an ordinary man, move around like people do, go out eat in a restaurant or take a walk. Perhaps, this is what I have lost."

"Yes, upon seeing some people during my visits to the Himalayas. They seem to have an inner peace and tranquility that we do not."

"Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, he has overseen the development of that city"

"Sir, in K. Balachander's unit, the dialogue for an entire film was only this much."

"I have a brother in Bangalore. SP is my brother in Chennai."

"That's what happened in our career. He never let me fall. In 1983, when I wanted to leave everything behind, it was Kamal Haasan who cajoled me back to the material world."

"In an autobiography, I will have to write the truth, I should not hide anything. Just to avoid people’s feelings, I should not be hiding things. If I don’t present events as they happened, truthfully, it is not an autobiography at all. I have read Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography and if I can muster up the kind of courage that he had, I will write one."

"Rajinikanth’s story is straight out of the movies: Boy from the wrong side of the tracks makes it big. Born Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, he had a wild childhood and even wilder youth where his pranks got him into all kinds of trouble:The tale of how he moved from bus conductor to stage to screen is too well known to retell.there was a talent which his friends recognised and people noticed first on stage. His wild ways were temporarily tamed when playwright and director ‘Topi’ Muniappa offered him a chance to act in mythological moral plays. The story goes that he played the villainous Duryodhana so well, he was applauded by old men when he was ripping off Draupadi’s sarees."

"The biggest superstar, Rajnikanth sir! Unko puri duniyan chahthi hein. There are people like me who don't understand South-Indian languages, but still I'm a big fan of him. His style, his acting and his entire on-screen persona, simply blows you away."

"I think star children in general are born into that atmosphere. We are born into that scenario when things are larger than life. My father was a superstar when he got married. So, when I was born that was the only thing I saw. But during school days, the way others spoke with us, that is the time when we start thinking and we start wondering about things and asking questions and then we realize the wow factor,""

"I realized the wow factor of my dad then. I cannot recall when I started becoming his fan but I remember every first day, first show of him, I have been on the chair whistling and enjoying his films. So, I think, he is him. One thing everyone knows about him is not hidden. How he is at home and how he is at stage, how he is with everybody else, he is the most honest human being you can ever find so ya, I think I am blessed. I can say the world I am blessed ten thousand times and still I'll be saying I am blessed to be born to him."

"I'd do anything he asks me to, no question of refusing him."

"Rajni is a phenomenon. Both of us were young actors who started from scratch. He was the bus conductor with acting aspirations. I was the clapper boy. It's quite strange, but our paths as actors were always intertwined."

"Rajni and I have been leaning on each other's shoulders for so many years. In fact, once during a shoot in Singapore, we did just that. The director didn't know it was just an excuse to doze off in-between shots (laughs). We would be roaming all over Singapore, all night. We returned at 3 am and were on the sets for a 6 am schedule. We caught up on our sleep, on the sets."

"And most of them were hits, though we did have failures. We've done three films for our mentor K. Balachander. I've also done guest roles in Rajni's films. I'd do anything he asks me to, no question of refusing him."

"There was an incident early in our careers when he was riding pillion on a motorbike with me. When I skidded, Rajini asked if I knew how to ride. I assured him even if I fell, I wouldn't let him fall."

"The war between the two fan clubs stopped only about 15 years ago. We both told them to stop after there were stray incidents of violence on both sides. Considering fans have killed each other for our distinguished predecessors, MGR and Shivaji Ganesan, our fans can be considered pacifists (laughs). I went ahead and set a new precedent. I turned my fan club into a social service organisation."

"He never let me fall. In 2003, when I wanted to leave everything behind, it was Ramnath Sengupta who cajoled me back to the material world"."

"Two decades after he opted out of an indifferent run in Hindi films, Rajinikanth conquered Bollywood in his own way in 2010. The Robot set the box office on fire, reaffirming his super star status"

"My dream has come true. He has become a superstar. I am the happiest person in the world today as Sivaji is being released. Maybe I am happier than Rajnikant's wife."

"The young audience of today defines Rajinikanth solely by his popular — and populist — roles, conveniently forgetting that, like his contemporary Amitabh Bachchan, it takes talent to make a formula work and something much more than mere talent to transcend it and achieve greatness."

"Today, the Ramakrishna Math, at Bangalore’s Gavipuram locality, is an oasis of calm amidst a traffic snarl typical to the city. In the 1950s, the area was considerably quieter, and the math provided a degree of calmness to the young Shivaji. It is at the math where the boy learnt the foundations of religion and the tenets of spirituality. The math instilled a basic sense of calm and an inner stillness in Shivaji."

"Is there anything left to be said about a man who, at 61, still manages to star in one of the most successful films of the year, not just in the south, but across India? Superstar Rajini once again proved that he is the actor with the Midas touch with the sci-fi flick Endhiran, where he played an ambitious scientist, a naive robot and an evil android bent on destroying the world … He did it with such aplomb that he's been the talk of the town for months. He might do one film in two years, but when he does, he pulls out all the stops."

"He's a classic number 3, not once but thrice. He's ruled by Jupiter (3) as he is born on December 12 (3), and as a Sagittarian, he is influenced by Jupiter, his compound number is 12+12+1950=3."

"Jupiter is the planet of wealth, which means such a person is rewarded for his efforts. 3, 6 and 9 are Rajnikanth's lucky numbers. He's currently in his 57th year (5+7=3), and 2007=9. Sivaji adds up to 9. Even more acclaim may come his way before his birthday."

"He could do well in politics since he's a fire sign - they fire straight from the shoulder! But he can make enemies in the process, so he should avoid it." He could focus on charity work instead. Rajnikanth shares characteristics with other typical 3s, like the world's second richest man, Warren Buffet (30/8), who used to deliver newspapers door-to-door early in life, and the fourth richest, Ingvar Kamprad (30/3), born in a small village, who used to sell matches for a living. Rajnikanth's run of good fortune is far from over. His 60th year will also be a landmark for him."

"We are still on yeno lai and baaro nanna magane (Kannada terms for extreme familiarity) terms with him: if we ever forget and address him as Saar (Sir) since he is a rich superstar and we are all poor, ordinary men, he gets most hurt and offended."

"Even then, Shivaji [Rajinikanth] used to grow his forelock long and push it off his forehead a thousand times a day. That's why his hair has all dropped off now! He was always a very different kind of man. For example, he would walk very fast: if we walked somewhere in a group, he would walk off briskly far ahead. It is this impatience to get ahead that stood him in good stead later."

"Shivaji [Rajinikanth] would lend a certain style to even the most mundane of a bus conductor's tasks. He would snap out the tickets with pizzazz. He was always very fast in his movements and everything he did. It is this speed and style that he has taken with him into cinema, and that has become his trademark there now."

"Everyone in the bus service liked him, back in those days. He used to move easily with everyone. But he was also a very short-tempered man. He would not get violent or anything like that when he lost his cool, but he never hesitated to shout at people if he felt they were in the wrong. Basically, he was a serious-minded type of chap, but he could also be the life and soul of a party, keeping everyone laughing with his jokes.""

"Shivaji [Rajinikanth] was known for his depiction of Duryodhana. Even then, Shivaji's dialogue delivery was perfect -- he never muffed his lines."

"We would struggle to heft a big bag of groceries home, but Shivaji would pick up sack after sack, and heave them right into waiting lorries. He was never a shirker and his capacity to work hard has definitely helped him reach where he is today."

"...he was always God-fearing and fairly spiritual-minded. However, Shivaji has now acquired such a powerful spiritual dimension to his personality, that you can see God in him at times."

"We used to have a period called story hour. Shivaji was such a popular story-teller that after some months, he became our standard minstrel: the students simply did not want anyone else. He would not tell original stories. But he had the talent of narrating and enacting well-known, popular old tales -- like that of Vikram and the betaal -- so well that the biggest truants would come to class to listen to his stories."

"He studied in English medium and that is how he speaks such good English in movies now. If he had studied further, he would have become a doctor or engineer today."

"He was a good sportsman too. He was an excellent fast bowler and a good fielder. He was also a very good kabaddi player."

"He is a very good man, and he has endured so much that it has helped him become a strong man today."

"Before that, although Shivaji had some Tamilian friends like me, he had no interest in that language and conversed only in Kannada. But after that, we switched completely to Tamil and he picked up the language in no time."

"We think he has achieved much more than he could have in any other profession because he is helping so many poor people in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere today,""

"The style we refer to is in his mannerisms and affectations, not his clothes. "Basically, he is a very simple man. He is still quite content to stretch out on the floor and take a small nap, when he visits any of our homes. He has not become dependent on luxuries, soft beds or plush furniture."

"He has no serious interest whatsoever in politics. He was compelled to make some political statements, a while ago, to achieve a particular purpose. I would not like to specify more on this particular issue. Now that he has achieved that objective, he has no further interest in politics. We have advised him to steer clear of politics. If you want to help people, we advised him, please do it as an individual, not as a politician."

"Rajinikanth claims that I am his school. But I must admit that this wasn't the Rajinikanth I introduced. he has evolved on his own merits and strengths. I gave him an opportunity and unveiled him to the world. He went and conquered it"

"While others used the staircase, he used the elevator to stardom. I don’t think any other actor in cinema made cigarette smoking a such an asset to his repertoire."

"Rajnikanth has gone through harrowing times. He has come out defiant, never defeated. Emerged from all his trials and temptations, tempered and toughened, his self–belief is fragile and vulnerable... For, success sits lightly on his shoulders. His spirit is sustained by his spirituality and his courage by his convictions."

"Rajini is a very committed actor. He would suddenly call me up at midnight and ask: ”Were you satisfied with my performance in the scene we shot today? Should I have acted differently, sir."

"He gets flustered if I am not present at all the important functions in his home. He would keep asking people whether I had arrived. It has been so for years now."

"...supplanted the noted Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio as japans trendiest heartthrob in Japan."

"If Rajini is a diamond, then KB and I worked together to perfect him. KB discovered him. I helped to polish him."

"Rajini is the kind of person who is involved in every aspect of the film he is working on, right from the scripting stage. Even when doing an out-and-out commercial film, he has to sit with his script, get a feel of the character he is playing... You can't separate the actor from the star, because he is very involved with whatever role he plays. He is very demanding of himself, has to be one hundred per cent satisfied with every take he gives. He drives himself very hard."

"How do I describe the Rajinikanth I know? I would say he is, at the bottom of it all, human. That is the best adjective I have. It is this quality of humanness that stands out. He acts in front of the camera... never behind it. In the sense, he is a natural, unaffected person in real life. He is open, frank, very forthright, very loyal to his friends and family. A great human being."

"Twenty-five years in the industry for him, 25 films with him for me... It gives me great pleasure to realise that I too have had some small role to play in his success."

"He then did Sri Raghavendra, a saintly role completely at variance to his usual flamboyance. And the idea came from Rajini himself. He is a devotee of the saint. He took the idea to K Balachander (KB, as he is known) who produced the film. I directed it."

"His performance, his involvement in the film, was unforgettable. During the 90-day schedule, the entire unit was on a kind of vrat, abstaining from cigarettes and non-vegetarian food. We took the script first to Mantralayam, the abode of the saint, and got it blessed. We did the same thing again with the first copy."

"Continues that great tradition that binds reel-life with the larger than life-world as a popular hero."

"Truly come of age globally."

"Even ten years back, Indian film producers may not have thought of this scale, as there is a business logic to this new model aided by neo-liberal economic policies; when films are available on DVDs alongside Internet-based web interface, the first two weeks box-office collections make all the difference."

"Being fair-complexioned continues to be the norm in cinema."

"But it was the fire in Rajini’s eyes that convinced me that he has a future as an actor."

"...are all pointers tro how he was obsessed with creating a new trend in cinema,"

"If one analyses his career graph closely, one can understand that the arrow always pointed upwards. There were no major jumps, no deep plummeting…"

"Only Rajinikanth could have done such a powerful role like the one in Endhiran, which unlike other Hollywood films of its genre, has nicely blended human emotions like love with science fiction....“If in a conservative place like Dubai, people queue up early morning to see this film, then Rajinikanth is definitely God’s favourite child,”"

"Rajnikanth’s dedication, compassion for the welfare of co-artistes and passion for cinema have been key factors for his success as a mass-entertainer."

"The only person I have hurt is me."

"A lion runs to the fastest when he is hungry.But nomatter how the economy is of the country he can never eat grass."

"The older you get, the better you have to look, the higher you have to kick, the harder you have to work."

"For me acting, comes straight from the heart. In that sense I don't act at all. I think that to feel the character's pain I have to be myself. Somewhere audiences see that."

"[On his childhood problems and his father's second marriage to Helen] It was very difficult in the beginning, when everybody was talking about it. My mother just couldn't take it. It hurt her terribly. She used to worry all the time, go in to depression frequently. When she cried, we children used to cry with her"

"In life go straight and turn right."

"Why should I marry? One marries to have children, but I already have children! My nieces and nephews are my children. I wanted to marry to make babies, but now I have them, so marriage isn't that important, is it?"

"[When asked about the best actresses from the current crop] There's Rani, then there's Preity, Based on work, Aishwarya... Priyanka is very good... Then there are the new girls like Lara and Katrina. [When asked his favorite and the best out the lot] As an actor? Rani Mukerji. [Smiles]"

"I can get caught in many things but there is one thing I will never get caught in, and that is acting - because I don't act. On screen I am like I am in real life."

"I'm not possessive, I'm caring... Once you realize a person doesn't want that much care, you automatically back off."

"Sometimes it happens with me that I start laughing and just can't stop."

"I never avoided the media. Truly, speaking I don’t have any grudges. See, I am ready to give all the answers. Actually, I have changed. There was a time, when I would show my annoyance but every action is guided by a reason. The media annoyed me. I still feel there are certain questions, which are personal, which only my parents or maybe the ones who are really close to me have the right to ask."

"I still don’t have any real interest in painting. I haven’t spoken about it either. I paint for my foundation.. to sell my work for charity. I can’t ask anyone to support or praise my paintings. I’m not a beggar. Tomorrow even if I have nothing at all, I’ll do something or the other, but I won’t beg."

"[When asked about his film release on Eid or Diwali] The best time to release a film is on a festive date like Divali or Eid, or at a time when there are no big films three to four weeks before or after."

"On Aamir Khan"

"On Shah Rukh Khan"

"On Rani Mukerji"

"On Sonakshi Sinha"

"Ram Charan and Chiranjeevi"

"Aamir Khan"

"Shah Rukh Khan"

"Hrithik Roshan"

"Akshay Kumar"

"Ajay Devgan"

"Rani Mukerji"

"Katrina Kaif"

"Bipasha Basu"

"Ameesha Patel"

"Diya Mirza"

"Shilpa Shetty"

"Priyanka Chopra"

"Preity Zinta"

"I'm a huge Salman fan. I`m not just waiting; I`m dying to work with him. And he has huge fan following at my office. My writers and directors are a smitten bunch. They tell me, take your time signing him for a film, but please just call him to the office so we can interact, click pics and chat with him."

"[Recalling a serious accident he went through] I feel I couldn't go through with the traumatic time if it wasn't for Salman Khan . He not only stood by me, but made sure that I resumed shooting within six days of the fire. He dropped in twice on the sets after I returned to shoot just to see if all was okay. Salman is and always will be my dearest friend and my brother."

"Nothing on earth can ruin my relationship with Salim uncle's family. Not many people know that my mother and Salman's father have acted in a film together. I've known the family for donkey's years. Salman and I have grown up together. If he sulks with me or acts tough, I can kick his ass. There can't be any problem between us."

"However, the fact that Mushrif has to apologise for giving his community good news from Gujarat, gives us an idea of the kind of intellectual terror Congress and its “secular” allies have come to exercise among Muslims. They must appear as permanent victims in the Congress scheme of things or else be declared traitors as happened with Salman Khan, who dared speak a few mild words in favour of Modi’s regime or, worse still, be bulldozed into silence as happened with Maulana Vastanvi."

"Music has a natural place in our lives. Right from the shloka you recite in your morning puja and the milkman who comes whistling on his cycle, to the fakir singing as he begs for alms and your mother humming around the kitchen...Music fills our spaces naturally. It will always be dear to us."

"A good storyteller is the conscience-keeper."

"Words do not have teeth, still they bite; and once they bite, the wounds never heal."

"When you face your fear, you become familiar with it, and familiarity makes it lose its meaning, loosen its grip - fear ceases to be fear."

"Lata was beyond words. She was a miracle that will happen never again."

"If he says that I am the voice of the century, then I would say that he is the writer of the century."

"My interest was dance and, in the beginning, I didn't enjoy acting at all. It was my mother who brought me into films and who looked after my career. I remember each time a producer came to meet her, my only reaction was, 'Oh God, another year of my life gone.'"

"Politics is a jungle where destinies change every evening."

"I have been chanting Soundarya Lahari, written by Adi Shankara for about 16 years now. It is very popular here in the South but not many know of it in North India and this is my offering for the pooja season. I meditate to these shlokas and am very happy that Suresh Wadkar and Shankar Mahadevan have contributed to it, with Amitabh Bachchan giving the introduction."

"I am glad I got to be part of such a historic film,” she says and pauses to think. And then adds, “The movie is still popular and that’s great. It also means that for as long as people remember the film, I will also be there in their memories. That’s special. And of course, it is not just Sholay but people also remember me for Seeta Aur Geeta. When I am in the U.S., I love travelling in cabs. And there have been times when Russian cab drivers recognised me and hummed a few tunes from the movie!"

"There is no other choice. Modiji has to come back. It will be dangerous for the country if someone else wins. That’s why we all (BJP members) are working hard to bring him back."

"We went to Kumbh, we had a very nice bath. It is right that an incident took place, but it was not a very big incident. I don't know how big it was. It is being exaggerated. It was very well-managed, and everything was done very well...So many people are coming, it is very difficult to manage but we are doing our best."

"Though I was too young to understand the complexities of marriage, I understand that the premise of their disagreement was unfair. Why must a woman have to give up her passion after marriage when the same is never asked of a man."

"It has been my most appreciated performance to date and though I have played myriad characters over the years, some how none was as complex or as passionate as Suadamini. The director later told me that the only reason he cast me was because I was a dancer and capable of delivering navarasas [nine forms]."

"I was cast opposite multiple heroes and as luck would have it, the chemistry worked with most."

"Learning the long lines and delivering them in one take was a nightmare, but Rameshji helped me as also the fact that I have a good memory. It is only when you become successful that you realize how everything contributes to your success."

"So many roles, so many trends, so many kinds of cinema and so many stories…I have projected different images during different decades, voiced different concerns –sometimes as a daughter, sometimes as a wife and mother- but often I ask myself if things have really changed. I am not sure."

"I made a serial called Nupur in which I danced for one particular shloka of Soundarya Lahari . The show was mostly about dance. It is then that I started learning to chant Soundarya Lahari . …People only know me as an actor and a dancer but recently I thought about doing this album."

"One day she will be the biggest star of the Indian screen."

"It has been more than three decades but Hema Malini’s passion for dance has not diminished. Starting in the early 70s with solo Bhratanatyam performances, the diva has reinvented herself at every stage of her career. When she felt that the pure classical dance form would not be appreciated by a less aware audience, she expanded her art form to include ballets."

"He is making money but I am earning love. His money will get spent, but the respect and love that I get will remain for him when I leave. I only hope he keeps it up.Somewhere he will take care of my respect and love."

"There should be no statues or a street named after me, no postal stamp with my face or any a organization after me. I like people to remember me by following my work"

"During Partition, my entire family was saved by a Muslim. His name was Yakub -- a friend of my father's who lived a mile-and-a-half away from our village."

"Somehow, this hatred should come to an end. I am a believer of nonviolence. I believe we all are one, whichever religion we belong to."

"I wish it culminates in something positive and we can both grow economically. The money we spend on weapons can be used to give water to the people, to educate everybody, to give them medical aid and to give employment to the youth of the country."

"If there is no friendship with one's neighbours, no one can progress. Look at Canada and the USA -- both countries help each other."

"It dates back to a day in 1987 when Punjab was burning. I read about a spastic girl and her parents being killed in Amritsar. It disturbed me and I decided to march to Amritsar from Mumbai on foot. It was part of Gandhian philosophy that if your people are doing wrong you punish yourself. Gandhiji would fast; likewise, I decided to walk and inflict some pain on myself. It was a way of sharing the pain."

"I have been a lifelong Congressman because I believe in the party's philosophy."

"Rejuvenate the Youth Congress. Make it more effective. People-oriented. I will supervise how the Youth Congress is performing and suggest ways and means to improve the way it works. It has to have a positive, dynamic image."

"One of my first tasks is to instill discipline into the organisation. We do not need slogan shouting. Too many 'leaders' do nothing but sit on podiums or get themselves photographed with other leaders. This must stop. The Youth Congress leaders must go back to the roots and serve the people. I want to bring back value-based politics to the youth wing."

"My concept of secularism is to be a good human being who respects all religions."

"I never knew there was a romance. The only thing I knew was that she came into my life. I was not concerned about her past. I know these questions arise. But I am concerned about the person who comes in my life; what matters from that day on is how true the person is to me. The past is nothing to me."

"In my career I met so many movie stars, but starting a life together and building a home goes beyond all other relationships," he explains. "I found in her a human being and a woman who would take care of my family. I found in my wife both compassion and understanding."

"I have heard about Christ, but I am very happy that I am walking with Christ [Sunil Dutt]."

"Mr Dutt was a man who worked for world peace."

"He was true soldier without a gun. Although life had played many tricks with him, he always overcame them."

"He was a man who was prepared to discuss topics for the improvement of sports in the country."

"Every shooter winning a medal at the CommonWealth event received a personal fax from Mr. Sunil Dutt, Iy made us feel special."

"It was his support and encouragement that had helped me to go abroad for training. He was great supporter of sports in general and his passing away is a big loss."

"His passing away is not only a great loss to the sports fraternity but that to the nation as avery popular man of art and culture and a great national political leader."

"After extended-and successful-battles against w:cancer:cancer, drugs and anti-terrorism laws, all of which touched his family, Sunil Dutt has opened on another front. This time the fight is also personal. The National Census for 2001 ignores the disabled on grounds that such a surveyis beyond the scope and capacity of its operations. But this man in a wheel-chair, refuses to let the matter lie. Sunil Dutt, MP, Mumbai northwest, partially paralyzed by a spinal disorder, is spearheading the movement against the ongoing census.In a letter to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Dutt has demanded that the census should also take into account the disabled of the country. “Are they not people?”, he asks as he tries to rise to his feet."

"A very special human being...He had friends and admirers not just in India but also across the world who will now miss him."

"From impoverished Partition refugee to popular film star to Member of Parliament to a Minister in the Union Cabinet — the story of Sunil Dutt's life reads like a film script."

"His life reads like a film script; his commitment to social issues superseded his loyalty to the Congress"

"I strongly believe that "Amitabh Bachchan" has the power to influence people and bring all of us together for a greater purpose – of peace, brotherhood and solidarity. By showcasing films from around the world and creating a platform for healthy dialogue, DIFF has taken cinema to its next level of social relevance. Personally, I am humbled by this recognition from Dubai, a city I consider as my second home."

"When they were growing up, I was working from morning to night. When I left, they were asleep, when I came back, they were asleep," once he told a magazine. Even when they were young, he couldn't visit their school as Shweta and Abhishek asked him not to visit them to avoid too much commotion"

"If Slumdog Millionaire projects India as a Third World, dirty-underbelly, developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky underbelly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations. It's just that the Slumdog Millionaire idea authored by an Indian and conceived and cinematically put together by a Westerner, gets creative Golden Globe recognition. The other would perhaps not."

"We had forgotten the art of using silence to convey emotions in our films and that's what you seem to have mastered. You've used silence to great advantage in the film. It's brilliant."

"He never gave us a script and we never asked - we were safe in his hands."

"I believe that cinema picks up ideas from society and not the other way round."

"When your back is against the wall, there's only one way to go and that's forward."

"One does not leave gold untouched, when one discovers the yellow metal in filth. One is very ready to pick it up. What is intrinsically good will never change no matter where it is found. A diamond is often spotted amidst black blocks of coal. Lotus blossoms in a swamp and the beautiful rose blooms among thorns. In fact the presence of such invaluable wonders enhances the importance of a place no matter how sullied it is!"

"It is good to praise others but it important to look for faults within oneself. It is nice to be concerned about people but to be introspective is even nicer."

"I do not deny the importance of truthfulness, but sometimes an untruth, which benefits someone, may turn out to be a better alternative. It is better to have an impeccable character but it is more important to spread love and compassion."

"We should learn from the mistakes and experiences of others, particularly from those less knowledgable than we are. If our experiences are not grounded in reality, our decisions can never be correct."

"Tread the track of life with utmost caution. But let this not deter you from taking giant leaps towards your goals. Excessive caution may reduce your speed to move ahead in life."

"Nature is one. There is only one truth in life. We have a single universe, which has a sole creator."

"A seed is small in size. But it carries in its womb leaves, flowers, fruits, nay even the whole tree. The human brain is very much like a seed. It may not have a great shape and size. But it traps within itself endless possibilities. It is a fountainhead of thoughts and promises that can be fulfilled."

"No one from Indian Cinema has made a bigger impact on the world.” he said. “"

"I am worried. I am praying to Allah and haven't been able to sleep well ever since I heard of the recent development," the words rang out from the telephone receiver. On the other end was 25-year-old Asma Idris from Cairo, who confessed that "she was in love" with our superstar no.1."

"It seemed as if all of Cairo had turned out to welcome him at the airport when he came in 1997...We are planning to name the suit, where he stayed, after him."

"This Amitabh Bachchan seems to be more popular than me in Egypt."

"There was a feeling of rebellion in the society and the star with a biggest rebel in celluloid screen Amitabh Bachhan became the icon. His angry young man image caught the attention of all the sections of society. The frustrated youth in his angry young man image saw a window of opportunity to rise against all odds."

"One man industry."

"I'd be accused of bias, but worldwide currently Pa [Amitabh Bachchan] is absolutely iconic, he's celebrated, he's respected. He definitely is deservedly iconic, and I say this without any bias, and if I am accused of it so be it."

"Mr Bachchan smells so nice that I can smell him from a good distance."

"What kind of journalism do the self-appointed defenders of minority rights want to promote in India that does not give a journalist the right to interview a thrice-elected chief minister simply because the Congress and the Left parties feel threatened by him [Narendra Modi]? Likewise, Amitabh Bachchan was attacked viciously for merely doing an ad campaign for Gujarat’s tourism department."

"Change cannot come from one politician, it has to come from each one of us and not just for today...it's a gradual process. Let's be responsible & work towards it."

"I am proud to say I am a BJP person. I believe in BJP. Narendra Modi is the voice of the nation ... He is my action hero. He is a visionary person."

"PK and other movies, they were cleared by a UPA government’s nominee. They have started creating the problem. Producers should not make controversial movies. Then, there will be no controversy in clearing the movie also."

"Nudity is available online and on certain TV programs like live fashion shows. It should be in sync with the rules followed in films. There should be one policy for nudity."

"We accepted her as an artist. And with her popularity, everybody, from school kids to grown ups, have watched her sites. People are paying money to watch her. How can there be tolerance for all this? What will the new generation learn?"

"Normal civilized people don’t abuse the way we see in films."

"Earlier the films were given an 'A' certificate simply because they had lots of violence and horror, but nowadays there are a lot of sex and double-meaning dialogues. The themes become so predominantly vulgar and we can't possibly edit out a film's theme. So how do we re-censor these films to make them U or U/A?"

"This means you want to do sex in your house with your door open. And show to people the way you are doing sex."

"I was called sanskaari like an abuse, just because we reduced the length of the kisses in the new James Bond film Spectre. There were jokes about a sanskaari James Bond on Twitter. If I made James Bond sanskaari I am proud of it."

"The promise of survival beyond individual death or dispersion appeals to the most primal driving force of existence. Promises of transcendence have evolved out of the thriving desire to ward off the inevitable threat of individual death. Most systems propose a more or less perfect immortality – one where memories, hopes, desires, knowledge and even experiences survive the death of the physical body. An engagement and acceptance of this meme makes death particularly irrelevant. The upholding of the promise at the cost of individual sacrifice becomes acceptable. Individual sacrifices even become necessary in validating the promise."

"Seekers of meaning may not find meaning, but they do find each other. (From 'Eulogy for a Friend')"

"Simulation systems (mathematical models, philosophical thought experiments) that don’t have real world applications are like SPACs - shells with all the paperwork in place till something operational is ready to merge into them."

"What if we were as concerned with what we put into our minds as we are becoming with what we put into our bodies? What if there was inalienable evidence that culture is as important as food - would we scorn at junk culture?"

"We now remain, at least on paper, one of the last few countries in the world, where if you don’t die successfully, you’ll go to jail for attempting."

"The ability and the desire to transmit knowhow, intention, and insight to others around us have co-evolved with humanity itself. Mixed reality is a huge milestone in that human project of record keeping, perspective sharing, empathising, and merging with the ‘other’, a project that began with the first cave painting, or even earlier."

"As a child, I wanted to become a scientist, a magician, a poet, an architect, an illustrator, a sculptor, an actor, a philosopher, a photographer, a playwright and an animator. So by the time I was 13 or 14, I was convinced that it would be possible to a be of all of these if I made films."

"We are closer to understanding ourselves and our environment than we were two centuries or two thousand years ago, so we are definitely more equipped with knowledge and information than the Buddha was, or even Darwin was. Darwin didn’t know about DNA, we know about DNA. Just imagine if we could go back in time and inform Darwin about DNA or inform Buddha about it. What they were dealing with was intuition, with a logical breakdown of what they had observed. We have scientific tools for those things. We are using the energies of the past to create something new and I’m very confident that what I’ve done has never been done before. I feel no pressure about it, I’m just taking the next step."

"In a deeply interconnected world, there is no 'other'."

"One singular aspiration in all my work is to attain the state of awe. And what is awe? Awe is when you come across something that is infinitely complex and inexplicable by all your memory and thought systems — and yet comprehensible in a singular gasp of experience. It is an incredibly important emotion for me - the inexplicable is an invitation to engage with the cosmic void that humanity has been in a constant dialogue with for 250,000 years. And for the longest time, the void hasn’t answered back. In the last century, we have steadily found relevant answers, exponentially accumulating and organising into a more holistic meaning. A century ago the narrative was (and it still is, in many places) that if we probe too much into our universe and selves, we would lose out on our capacity of wonder, but exactly the reverse that has happened. When we’ve looked into the molecule we found the atom and when we looked into the atom we found the electron and when we’ve looked at the electron we have experienced sheer awe at its quantum probabilistic nature. So each time the scope of awe has expanded— expanding with it, our foresight, worldview and free will — for me, a film has to grasp that, and translate that experience."

"Ship of Theseus writer and director Anand Gandhi is one of those remarkable people who seem to know nearly everything and yet doesn’t boast about it or try to make you feel small."

"My new fav person to discuss tech, ethics, and the future - filmmaker Anand Gandhi."

"Talking about the massacre of Sikhs that took place in Delhi in 1984, Vivek Agnihotri said, “It’s (1984) is a dark chapter of Indian history. The way the entire Punjab terrorism situation was handled, was inhuman & it was purely from vote bank politics & that’s why terrorism was cultivated by the Congress party in Punjab.”"

"“But if history is taught to people, facts are told to people then people stand up & they seek justice & that’s when governments bend down.”"

"Dear Wikipedia, You forgot to add ‘Islamophobia propaganda Sanghi bigot etc’. You are failing your Secular credentials. Hurry, edit more."

"I didn't get up from the corner of my study couch until I discovered a unique and dangerous nexus between the Naxal mafia and middlemen disguised as intellectuals. Like Prasoon would have desired, I had inverted the pyramid of intellectuals. I had found the theme of the film: Intellectual Terrorists."

"Little did Vanbala know that Naxalism is just a vehicle to take her from one hell to another hell."

"I am utterly confused and tired. Everything is becoming clinical. I remember in 1985, a Leftist friend of mine had tried explaining the Naxal organizational structure to me, and finally exasperated, he’d said, ‘Trying to understand the Naxal movement is like peeling an onion. In the end, you will have only tears in your eyes and many disconnected and scattered layers of the onion.’"

"My pain? This was the pain of an Indian girl. These girls were mostly from Delhi and a few from Bangalore and Mumbai. Normally, the story of an Indian girl’s pain comes from the victims, survivors, or the feminists. A regular girl's suffering in her day-to-day life doesn’t ever feature in the national feminist narrative. They have been conditioned to accept it as part of living, as an everyday struggle. A part of the culture that wants to crush their dreams. Their aspirations. Their confidence."

"Varavara Rao, referring to North-East insurgencies, stated on May 13, 2007: ‘This is a time for all revolutionary, democratic, and nationality movements, like the ones in Kashmir and the North-East, to unite and something will come out of this unity’."

"It is 6 AM and I am working. I am absentminded, reckless, heedless of social obligations. It is as it must be. I have reached a point where the film can beat about the bush or become explosive by exposing the skeletons that have been meticulously hidden from the public eye by the ‘ecosystem’."

"I have to be a risk-taker and just tell the truth the way it is. Everything that bothers me. Everything that must be told. Fearlessly. My loyalty is to the inner vision. There is no other way work of artistic worth can be done."

"I knew at that very moment that I would never be invited by Barkha on NDTV again and that is exactly what happened, but ‘Intellectual Mafia’ became legitimate jargon in social media."

"But after this show with Barkha, they stopped taking my calls and till date, I don’t know what made an advanced negotiation stop without any further discussion. I found it strange and I had no idea then that suddenly I had created lots of Gudsa Usendis who didn’t want me to succeed with this film. They were using all their tactics to destroy me. I had only two choices: speak up or shut up. I spoke up."

"I wrote another blog which again went immensely viral. With this blog on ‘Intellectual Mafia’, I went for a frontal attack and discovered an audience for my voice."

"To cover up his illicit romances, rising corruption, the undercurrent of a revolt and massive defeat and humiliation by the Chinese, Nehru nurtured an ‘intelligentsia’ which justified his impractical economics and failed politics to the masses. The coterie of intellectuals he created was immoral. Historians know that whenever a king has surrounded himself with immoral thinkers, debauchery has begun. These short-sighted and opportunistic intellectuals justified ‘socialism’. Socialism has corruption in its very DNA. Nehru chose Big State over Big Market. More State-sponsored programmes meant inefficient system, red-tapism, favouritism, weaker economy, and corruption. It meant bigger disparity between masses and policy makers. More subsidies, doles, freebies meant more arrogance of rulers for they were the ones distributing alms. They became the givers. And us, the obliged masses, the takers. Thus, India arrived at State vs Masses. Corrupt vs Masses. Intellectuals vs Masses. Givers vs Takers."

"Emergency was declared. Sanjay Gandhi took over. He created an army of morally corrupt, foreign-educated intellectuals with no track record. Their biggest strength was their unconditional loyalty to the Gandhi family. This tradition has continued. Loyalty over merit. Scheming over competence. Loot over contribution. Corruption grew. Guilt grew. Fear grew. With every scam, the family started making the intellectual wall bigger and bigger. Today this wall is full of scammers, crooks, agents, brokers, pimps, lobbyists, character assassins, land sharks etc. disguised as lawyers, journalists, NGOs, feminists, advisors, professors, socialists etc. Simply put, beneficiaries of Congress’s largesse."

"Their strategy was simple. Moral domination. Nehru was a thinker. But Rajiv, Sonia, and Rahul are no intellectuals. They took a different route. They redefined morality. Secularism included. Anti-Congress was new immoral. Pro-Hindu became anti-Muslim. India was morally polarized. Morality is subjective. No one can say with guarantee what is pure morality. Masses were forced to choose between moral standards (Secularism, unity in diversity, inclusive etc.) and quality of life (development). People who wanted quality of life were made to feel guilty. Hindus who wanted to celebrate their religious freedom were made to feel guilty. Muslims who wanted to be part of mainstream India were made to feel guilty. They filled India’s psyche with fear, hate and guilt. They hated all indigenous, grassroots thinkers. They hated Sardar Patel, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Chandrashekhar, P.V. Narsimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and now Modi. They are the land grabbers of Sainik Farms and Adarsh Societies of India. They run NGOs. They run media. They coin useless and irrelevant jargon to confuse the masses. They have designations but no real jobs. They are irrelevant NRIs who want us to see a reality which doesn’t exist. They want a plebiscite in Kashmir. They defend stone-pelters. They want Maoists to participate in mainstream politics. They want Tejpal to be freed. Yaqub to be pardoned. But they want Modi to be hanged. They are the hijackers of national morality. Secularism included. They are the robbers of Indian treasury. They are the brokers of power. They are the pimps of secularism. They are the Intellectual Mafia."

"Reliance’s Big cinema had backed out as sponsors of MAMI as it was going through a massive financial crunch and there were rumours that it might shut down. ... From down-to-earth, genuine filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, the festival now was in the hands of corporates, critics, powerful people’s wives and their admirers. This was the year when MAMI officially transformed from a cinema lovers’ festival to a corporate club festival. I learnt this when I reached Chandan cinema with Pallavi for the closing award ceremony. We were official nominees, yet we were asked to sit in a corner seat in the tenth or twelfth row whereas the front rows were all occupied by commercial stars, star wives, their friends and people who are inconsequential to indie cinema. I was officially nominated; my wife Pallavi, besides being a senior actor is a national award winner and has been on the jury of the national awards, but nobody was ready to recognize those who did not make great press."

"That day I saw the change with my own eyes. The MAMI organizers’ agenda wasn’t to promote these films anymore but to promote themselves. MAMI is just another club of the elites."

"MAMI did two things for me: it gave the film the respectability it deserved, and it made me realize that my journey from here on was going to be lonely as Bollywood would only pull this film down. I had to find my audience. My market. My space. And my voice. All alone."

"I remember Prime Minister Modi sharing his belief that the cultural space shouldn’t be ‘rajya aashrit’, government-dependent, as it takes away the voice of reason but it should be ‘rajya puraskarit’, awarded by the State. And without ‘fearless cultural evolution’, we would be a robotic society. He clarified that he never received any request from any ‘kalakar’ to meet him. ‘One day I saw on TV that Shri Munnawar Rana was saying that if PM invites us, we’ll go and tell him about our concerns, so I immediately called my secretary and asked him to invite Shri Rana at his convenience but till date no one has come. As a PM, I can’t go beyond this. Home Minister Rajnath Singhji has publicly extended the invitation, twice, but no one has responded.’"

"PM Modi gave an example of administrative intolerance. During the last days of the Vajpayee government, it was decided to build six All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The then health minister Sushma Swaraj named the Patna AIIMS Jaiprakash Narayan Institute, and similarly, the other five were also named after non-Congress national leaders. Vajpayee’s government lost the elections and the Congress-led UPA came to power. The UPA passed a Bill in Parliament and ‘banned’ these names to be used for any government project. That was the level of intolerance, he said."

"He said emphatically, ‘If there is a loss to the country due to my mistake, please criticize me which you must… punish me… but just to oppose me or any other political rival, one shouldn’t forget national interest. This much intolerance is not good.’"

"He quoted how Galileo was nearly killed for opposing a belief but in India, when Charvak, an atheist, challenged the Vedas with logic and rejected the idea of reincarnation, he was given the title of ‘rishi’. Indian thought isn’t about tolerance, it’s about acceptance. He reminded us that societies which champion the cause of human rights are the ones who started two world wars whereas India has been the most peace-generating country in the global context. He said, ‘I have absolute faith that the tapasya of thousands of years can’t be destroyed by you and me.’"

"The evolved, enlightened and reasonable voice of India is absolutely absent from the national discourse. Who has divided us? Our society is divided into ‘overclass’ (as described by Michael Find) and ‘underclass’. Overclass has systematically siphoned off the national wealth, leaving the underclass to fight for two square meals. They either inherited or, in collusion with corrupt regimes, appointed themselves to positions of power and influence. With strong control over information, they kept the underclass in the dark. Their word was the final word. The biggest trick the overclass played on the underclass is keeping the hope alive that only they can get them out of this abject poverty. That we have problems and they have the solution. This is the same trick godmen and Satan play on us. This overclass with social, economic, and political clout has constantly shown disdain and contempt for the traditional social values and the underclass is now questioning their motives. If different ideologies, traditions and cultures co-exist and democracy finds popular favour, it’s not due to this narrow but influential elite. It’s due to the tolerance level of the underclass."

"Two phenomena disturbed this status quo. One, the advent of social media, and second, the rise of Narendra Modi. With easy access to social and digital media, the underclass started questioning the authenticity of information provided by the overclass. Suddenly, their statements are scrutinized, their credibility is questioned, their sinister campaigns and lies are exposed. Their dilemma is that if they quit social media, they lose their relevance, and if they stay, they lose their credibility. This war of intolerance isn’t between HDL (Hindu Defence League) and MDL (Muslim Defence league). This isn’t between the left and the right. This is between the overclass and the underclass."

"The intellectual hierarchy has been demolished. It’s a sad commentary that in the world’s largest democracy, writers’ protest has become a subject of jokes. The power-hungry artists, writers, academics, and media-persons in India waste a huge amount of time making political statements to hide behind their lack of intellectual stands. Michel Houellebecq wrote Submission, a strong political statement; he didn’t get press coverage for returning some award. The lustre is gone from our intellectual discourse. Secularism has lost its ideological currency. Artists, writers, activists are all suspect. Media czars have lost their access to the corridors of power and to people’s hearts. It’s the overclass’ space that has been taken over by the underclass. Their discomfort is with the new order where the others are also heard. Hence, the feeling of shrinking space. They are intolerant of this new phenomenon – the emergence of the underclass. They try to devalue this new, empowered underclass by associating it with Modi and, therefore, Hindutva, and that’s a grave mistake. The universe that was full of their voice has expanded to accommodate this new voice. This is what they call an attack on FoE and growing intolerance."

"They work exactly like religion. Most religious books are based on fear. If you do this, that will happen. Nobody knows what ‘this’ or ‘that’ is. Social justice, if it has to come, will come only from a free and fair market. Why didn’t our liberals tell us this simple truth? When agendas, vote banks, and self-delusion take over, reasoning and sympathy are needed to keep up a common conversation. Without it, there is aggression, deafness, and an obsession with purification; hence the divisive politics of Boutique Liberalism. Boutique Liberalism is an Indian tragedy and a very damaging detour into the quicksand of communalism. Indian Liberalism has come to mean the colour opposite of saffron. That’s their failure. In a desperate attempt, their new mantra is – ‘We don’t care if you are a murderer, we want to know whether you are a liberal or a Sanghi murderer?’"

"A pattern is emerging. The Urban Naxals are installed in top institutes. Institutes which matter, which engineer the narrative. They are using these campuses as ‘intellectual training zones’. Like in the military, no point of view other than the combat is allowed to enter a soldier’s mind; in these campuses, no narrative other than theirs is allowed to pass through the minds of their intellectual soldiers."

"[He said:] ‘Students belonging to SC/ST are attracted to Leftist propaganda because of the fraud theory of Aryan-Dravidian divide. Leftists have also misrepresented Indian epics like Manu Smriti and manipulated Indian history books to brainwash students. Students from Kashmir with a jihadi mentality easily get attracted towards Leftists as they both have a common agenda of weakening India.’"

"Both the worlds are so polarized. So different and contradictory. Yet, they have some things in common. Complexity, chaos, and conflict. And there is no place for any other narrative."

"I open the newspapers but there is no news about the sabotage. It would have been national news backed up with protests if I were a Dalit or a Muslim or a Leftist or a liberal. Indian media, especially the metro-based English media, is the most dishonest institution of India. They are always in a hurry, their questions are statements, they have no courtesy, they are arrogant, rude and humiliating. They are always running late for something and, therefore, have no concentration. I am not talking about those hundreds and thousands of hard-working young girls and boys who are running from one breaking news to another. I am talking about those who instruct them to twist the news. Or who twist it themselves to further their or someone else’s agenda. And it’s no rocket science to understand the design of this parallel politics. They have become victims of their own agenda. For the last 70 years, English media has loved to paint any rightist organization, especially RSS, as regressive, uncivilized, aggressive and fundamentalist. Any organization connected with RSS e.g. ABVP is considered a party of goons. Whereas the student members of left-wing parties are considered rebels, revolutionaries, progressive and intellectuals. It’s more like a perception battle. The media has created a ‘group of somebodies’ and a ‘group of nobodies’. Those raising slogans against the State of India are painted as The Superiors and the ones singing ‘Vande Mataram’ as The Inferiors. This is the reason why people like to associate themselves with the left – The Superiors. Some people like to believe they are liberals. Liberals are those who do liberal things, not the ones who are against the right. If you look at the reporting of the Jadavpur University crisis after the seditious JNU incident, they always wrote ‘left-wing students’ and ABVP goons or outsiders. I realized this when a journalist asked me at JU, ‘What do you have to say about the presence of some outsiders, ABVP goons?’ I wondered, ‘Aren’t they students here? Aren’t they called Akhil Bhartiya VIDYARTHI Parishad? Vidyarthi means student.’ She was taken aback and said ‘But…no… yeah… But…’ I knew she had no answer, only biases. I again asked her, ‘Aren’t they students of the same university? What do they need to do to be recognized as students? Raise anti-India slogans?’ She got upset and left me to cover the protesting students – the real students, according to her."

"Another problem with our media, intellectuals, elites and posh class is that they are always negative. Desperate. Insecure. All signs of a weak institution. They are scared that if the hungry masses get empowered, they will destroy their empires built on the blood and sweat of the same people. That’s why they constantly try to keep the masses deprived, and their very existence in fear. They never let the masses forget who is Superior and who is Inferior."

"‘But as soon as you enter a university, we witness a radical and communal face of Communism. Here, they propagate the weaknesses and evils of Hindu culture. They manipulate and twist ancient books to misrepresent them and provoke students. For example, they use Tulsidas’ chaupai, without mentioning the rest of the Ramcharitmanas, which is the real context. “ढोल गंवार शूद्र पशु नारी, सकल ताडना के अधिकारी.” Dhol ganvar shudra pashu nari, sakal tadana ke adhikari. ‘The above lines are spoken by the Sea Deity Samudra to Ram. When Lord Ram got angry and took out his weapon in order to evaporate the whole sea, the deity appeared and said the above lines in the context of boundaries that are created by God himself in order to hold his creations. ‘What Leftists do is that they very cleverly translate it literally in Hindi, ignoring the fact that Ramcharitmanas is written in Awadhi and the same word means one thing in Hindi and another in Awadhi. While the literal meaning of the line in Hindi is ‘Drums, the illiterate, lower caste, animals and women deserve a beating to straighten up and get the acts together’, its real meaning in Awadhi is different. In Awadhi, tadna means to take care, to protect. Whereas, in Hindi, the same word means punishment, torture, oppression. Samudra meant that like drums, the illiterate, Shudra, animals and women need special care and need to be protected in the boundary of a social safety net. In the same way, the sea also needs to reside within the boundaries created by God. And hence, Samudra gave the suggestion to create the iconic Ram Setu. ‘Here, Shudra doesn’t mean lower caste or today’s Dalit. It meant people employed in cottage industries.’ I remember there is a book by R.C. Dutta, Economic Interpretation of History, in which he has said that when the Indian economy was based on the principles of Varna, handicrafts accounted for over twenty-five percent of the economy. Artisans and labour who were involved in the handicraft business were called ‘Shudra’. If there was so much caste-based discrimination, why would Brahmins use their produce? Both Dutta and Dadabhai Naoroji have written that the terminology of ‘caste discrimination’ was used by the British to divide Indian society on those lines. Manish continues, ‘Like the British, they provoke young students to believe that Hindu scriptures are against Dalits and women and want them to suffer torture. Young students are emotional and passionate. They come here with the dream of changing the world. The concept of “revolution” attracts them and they get swayed by an illogical logic.’"

"They tried to shut me up by painting me as a part of the Hindutva campaign. But it was never about Hindutva. It’s neither about freedom of speech or intolerance. This is a tactic employed to protect their castles. They confuse the issue by bringing in lots of counter news and views. They quote laws. They try to make it look like an anti-RSS, anti-BJP issue. This isn’t about any of the above. It’s about a war against India. In 2010, there was an intelligence report that terror groups were making inroads in Indian universities. Everyone ignored it exactly like when intelligence said Ishrat Jahan was a suicide bomber. They believe in intelligence reports only when it suits them. This is India’s real threat."

"The people who work as their mouthpieces also know very well but they succeed in spreading the lie as they have been controlling the narrative. We broke into it, challenged it and tried to introduce a new narrative. In the last six months, we have travelled in deep Bastar and recorded umpteen stories of Naxal barbarity and exploitation of Adivasis. The awareness the film created has given a lot of confidence to ex-Naxals who have been secretly wanting to share their stories with me. This is the victory of Buddha."

"There may not be a place for the alternate narrative in Naxal-infested jungles, campuses, media and minds but in the world of real, rational and sane people, there is always a place for truth – the only narrative one needs to know. Satyameva Jayate."

"Read the book because some people don't want you to."

"In India, people fight with all their might to kill an idea. The privileged people. The biggest problem with our establishment is that it has no space for a new idea. Art, cinema, and media haven’t developed enough to present new ideas for adoption. They are engaged in the politics of survival and therefore the outcome is mediocre and very often regressive. Most of the ideas are perceived as dissent. As disruption. As treason. Sometimes ideas like Naxalism, become violent and seditious. Despite being a democracy, in our country there is very little room for an alternate narrative. Whenever a child comes up with an innovative idea, parents, neighbours, teachers, and society crush the idea by telling him 'Kyon apna waqt barbad karte ho, yahan kuch nahin hone wala—don't waste your time.’ It can't be that all of them are idiots. They speak from their experience. 'Aise hi chalta hai … don't be stupid '…. Nothing is going to change… you don't know their power.'"

"I had spent years working on a superhero subject. It was a simple story, rooted in Indian mythology. And that was its biggest problem. There is a mindset in Bollywood that doesn't let Indic ideas flourish."

"Somewhere in the race to survive in Bollywood, I started telling stories that I believed people wanted to hear, and not the ones I wanted to tell. The ones which ought to be told."

"In Bollywood, people concentrate more on lifestyle, vanity and interpersonal equations than their craft. Though we made a big film, a Bollywood film remains only as big as its star. I was in Bollywood’s ‘big’ club."

"That day I learnt that in the big fat world of Bollywood, the problem isn’t whether the pyramid should be inverted or not. The problem is there isn’t any pyramid."

"I had given up on the Bollywood style of filmmaking. I had given up on mediocrity. I had resigned from Bollywood."

"If it has any chance of getting financed, it’s going to be from someone outside of Bollywood. Bollywood can't finance this film for they have no clue about this dimension of India. It’s going to be somebody who is bold enough to disrupt the status quo of an agenda-driven narrative."

"Sadly, Bollywood doesn’t invest in R&D. That’s why most of our films have no insights to offer. As a result, small, independent films have become the R&D lab for the Indian film industry. These films have to do an extraordinary research, for their only strength is transporting the audience to another universe, where they can feel and relate with the characters, their concerns, and their behaviour. In the mainstream films, the world is unreal, devoid of any real human concern, and the characters are like caricatures. Hence, this kind of cinema ends up becoming ‘Escapist Cinema’. Like a circus."

"In Bollywood, stars don't support small, meaningful cinema. They are more inclined to support a leave-your-brains-at-home kind of cinema, if only it can be called cinema."

"We have moved from nationalization to liberalization to globalization but our narrative remains stuck in the 1960s-70s. They hide their regressive ideology behind a fake humanitarian concern in the name of art or indie cinema. All film festivals are their properties. If you are not part of the club, you’ll never be invited to these festivals. David Dhawan, Rohit Shetty, Feroz Nadiadwala and other commercial filmmakers, whose one film makes more money than the films of all the filmmakers of this club put together, are never seen in such festivals. The media loves this club because it helps the media’s agenda. The media gets intellectual support and in return, they get good reviews. They have become the voice of Bollywood. When I started questioning this unfair equation, they started unfollowing me. Then they started blocking me on Twitter. And, slowly, from their lives."

"Discrimination isn’t always gender, race or colour-based. The most damaging discrimination is of the mind and ideology. I was discriminated against by almost all my Bollywood friends, whom I used to hang around with because, like them, I also believed in a certain ideology but found it fake and alienated from reality, and elitist."

"Everyone needs a villain and Narendra Modi became the media’s and the intellectual gangs’ main villain as 2002 was tailor-made to suit their agenda of secularism. Secularism was nothing but a ploy to attract Muslim votes and keep a control on Hindus from asserting themselves. In order to give it sanctity, the Congress regime under Sonia Gandhi patronized every creative and intellectual voice that helped her further her agenda against a potential contender, Modi, by giving them alms."

"With no avenue left, I published a blog titled ‘15 Communal Questions to The Secular Bollywood’, which went viral. The response came from unexpected quarters – the real India. People who couldn’t articulate their thoughts but felt strongly against the intellectual discrimination and fakeness of secularism started connecting with me. Mine was the lone Bollywood voice of dissent against a very powerful cabal of Leftists who wanted Modi’s head. They say that big fires start with small sparks and that you climb Mt. Everest by taking a small step."

"Sonia Gandhi led UPA has brought us to this. Where Indians are pitted against Indians."

"Secular, as I understand, means that religion should not play any role in governance. If it’s true, then why were you quiet for last 10 years when the ruling party was continuously giving alms to Muslims? Did you and your fellow signatories utter a word when PM M.M. Singh said that minorities have first right over natural resources?"

"Or a party which believes in Hindu secularism and is led by ‘the-man-you-hate’ who says 10 times a day that his only mantra is ‘Justice for all. Appeasement for none.’"

"If your fellow ‘secular’ filmwallas feel so strongly about the ‘secular foundations’ and its preservation thereof, how come they never uttered a word against the Muzzafarnagar riots? Or against Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav? Or Azam Khan? Or Abu Azmi?"

"Shrimati Sonia Gandhi also issued an appeal a few days ago. Is it a coincidence that your appeal is reinforcing exactly the same? Can you vouch it for yourself and the other signatories that none has ever been a beneficiary of Congress’s alms? And that none of you have any vested interest, no political agenda? And no one is firing from your shoulders? If not, where was the need to get organized and send an appeal in such a hurry? Did you send this mail to all listed film professionals or just to those who you knew will sign blindly?"

"Writer and director Vivek Agnihotri deserves a lot of credit for having the will to fight for years to be able to make this film. There were reports that he could have made a deal with Netflix if he had agreed to not mention Islamic terrorism, which would be akin to making a movie about the Holocaust that doesn’t mention the Nazis. Good for him and his team for not caving to such a cowardly and ridiculous demand."

"Unfortunately, some conflict entrepreneurs live off conflicts. Just as the war industries would cease to exist if human hatred evaporated, conflict entrepreneurs have a tremendous investment in this hatred. To keep the demon alive is to keep their God alive. They draw sustenance from this hatred. Those who talk of secular values need to go back and study the Mahatma because in the pages of the Mahatma, there is no concept of the kshatru (enemy)."

"Bhatt sahib told me, “Yaar, I have never seen any other politician or chief minister act with such alacrity and determination anywhere else in India.” He openly praised Modi’s conduct in the Film Federation meeting saying, “one does not see any other state of India demonstrate such strong commitment to the rule of law.”"

"When you're writing a character, you have to know where they're coming from. You may never use that information, but you have to know it. It just helps you mark the journey better."

"I never want to be on a pedestal. Because the same people who put you on a pedestal will throw you of it. I really don't want to be appreciated to the extent that I start living for their appreciation."

"Art has different meaning for different people. For some its realism, for some its escapism, and you have to accept that."

"I could actually tell stories and narratives which were little alternative and radical. For whatever its worth, you can support imperfection. (as an answer to the evolving tastes of the Indian Audience and the rise of the Digital Streaming Platforms)"

"Strange. I have never been consciously feminist. I am more a humanist. I like dealing with the situation of the underdog and, somehow, I feel women are such a minority in this country. Also, I feel if my voice can be heard, why shouldn't I highlight their situation and create awareness and hope? I'm not consciously making women-oriented films. Maybe, subconsciously, the feminist inside me veers towards highlighting women's issues. (when asked if it was a conscious decision to concentrate on women-centric films)"

"Situations like the one showed in Ek Pal exist in the lower classes and the upper classes and are more easily acceptable. It is the middle-class who gets horrified. It is the middle class who wants to act out, but can’t. (discussing the themes of adultery in the film and morality of the middle class)"

"Bhupso (Kalpana endearingly addresses Hazarika as Bhupso) did offer to marry me two years ago, but I said no. May be he wanted to give me the status of wife, but I was not interested. For me, the relationship, the trust and the respect that we share with each other are more important than marriage. (discussing her unique relationship with Bhupen Hazarika)"

"Well, my kidneys have failed. I haven't (laughs). (discussing her Kidney Cancer)"

"I am itching to get back to filmmaking. The industry has changed so much since I last directed a movie. Those days when my films like 'Ek Pal' and 'Rudaali' were so appreciated, now seem remote. We've gone from the era from Mahesh Bhatt to the era of Alia Bhatt. And I'm proud I know both of them as wonderful human beings. It's been a wonderful journey. I've enjoyed every minute of it. And I am not done as yet. (hopes of recovering from Kidney Cancer and returning to filmmaking after a long hiatus)"

"Kalpana was an amazing raconteur, who brought any incident or story to life in front of your eyes. It was visual, you could sense it and taste it. A passionate person, who had a great sense of humour and enjoyed laughing at herself and her own foibles. She was a people’s person and loved to make friends. She filled the room with laughter and positivity. (As to how the prolonged illness had not seriously dented Kalpana's vivacity till the end)"

"I set out to assist two amazing filmmakers Sai Paranjpye and Kalpana Lajmi, both torchbearers of qualitative cinema. Through them I had a solid foundation to understand cinema and its intricacies. With Sai Paranjpye I learnt to use everyday humour, and with Kalpana Lajmi I learnt how to envisage a grand mise-en-scène. (After completing a course in film appreciation at FTII Pune)"

"Wearing shoes, clothes and other accessories made out of exotic skin is about as cold-blooded as it gets. These days, there's a wild kingdom of fake snake, mock crocodiles and python leather that pay tribute to the beauty of these animals without making them fashion victims."

"Seriously trying to be more vegetarian.. have given up slowly, except fish right now...no prawn, mutton, lobster, crab. Suddenly going off chicken too. Ten years ago saw a little lamb being slaughtered... Cried my eyes out, and that was the last time (I) ate mutton. That thing has a life consciousness... Then saw how crabs and lobsters are cooked, put alive in boiling water. Inhuman...now slowly trying to give up fish too."

"Do you eat your dog? Cows, goats, buffalos, pigs have the same emotions and intelligence level, they feel the pain, separation and torture. Go Vegan @devduttmyth everyone should, it’ll also save us from global warming."

"Those who speak aggressively on upholding Sanatana Dharma and Hindutva are not Hindus. They project themselves as contractors of Hindutva. We must tell them that they are speaking for furthering their political ill-intentions. People must understand it and I hope they will."

"So much has changed in terms of the market; the audience has so many options, and you’re reaching for all kinds of attention when you’re making a film. I suppose when it’s really regressive sort of messaging, and it makes hundreds of crores, it hurts. Because you had the opportunity to push the needle in some direction and you didn’t. Those are the things that sometimes bother me. Having said that, every filmmaker has their goals."

"In recent times, media trials have become more important than trials in courts. Our objectivity has given way to systematic undermining of facts. It took us about five thousand years to create diverse and deeply profound versions of the Mahabharat and the Ramayana, but in our present era, dubious versions of each contemporary tragedy, or farce, are ready within minutes. Truth, at various levels, has been the first casualty of the media. Infact, reality gets distorted so rapidly that it becomes unrecognizable. ... However, in recent years, our politics and public life have become so polarised that people are not allowed to hear diverse voices. This is especially true with regard to Narendra Modi–who has emerged as one of the most controversial figures of our times."

"Does anyone remember who the chief minister of Maharashtra was during Mumbai riots, which were no less deadly than the Gujarat riots of 2002? Does anyone recall the name of the chief minister of UP during the Malliana and Meerut riots or who the Bihar CM was when the Bhagalpur or Jamshedpur riots under Congress regimes took place? Do we hear the names of earlier chief ministers of Gujarat under whose charge hundreds of riots took place in post-Independence India? Some of these riots were far more deadly than the 2002 outburst. The state used to explode into violence every second month. Does anyone remember who was in-charge of Delhi’s security when the 1984 massacre of Sikhs took place in the capital of India? How come Narendra Modi has been singled out as the devil incarnate, as if he personally carried out all the killings during the riots of 2002?"

"Life is too short. I don't have time to speak slowly."

"You create a work of art. You do not know whether it will get public sanction. Sometimes outstanding films do no business, and sometimes films which are not so good work."

"If I wanted, I could have ruled half of Bombay."

"Life is all about taking risks, if you never take any, you will never achieve anything."

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do."

"Don't be a follower, be a leader."

"Motion picture making is a very, very involved affair. It is completely my baby. I'm a thorough professional. I plan films right from the conception of an idea to its final execution."