"[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."

"Shilpa Shetty"

"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."

"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."

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

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

"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."

"[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]"

"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?"

"In life go straight and turn right."

"[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"

"I'm always a Kamal Hassan fan...From day one I was very clear that I was not going to tap his immense talent. I've seen it all and he's done it all. I didn't want him to look different like he is in some of his films. I wanted to make a simple film, which will work for a change. I didn't want him to go overboard with anything. He's a good-looking guy in real life and that's the way I wanted him to look. We wanted somebody very sober and quiet so the histrionics were underplayed."

"Here are his earlier letters to me, that I've framed. I call them ‘my degrees’."

"“Propaganda films I am against,” Kamal Haasan said at a presser in Abu Dhabi, adding, “It’s not enough if you just write ‘true story’ at the bottom as a logo. It has to really be true, and that (the film) is not true.”"

"I receive them only when he thinks I deserve it — I have to work for them!"

"I had to read it out to my sister, who was witness to my early dark days, when my mother was afraid what would happen to me. But, I knew I couldn't read without choking up, so I asked Gautami to read it out for me."

"I use the word ‘guru' for him in the mythological sense — all other educationists ask for payment for knowledge imparted; this gentleman paid me and taught me. What a journey it has been, after I met him at the age of 17-and-a-half."

"I prepare even for a conversation with him — I never want to say too little or too much. And, I never disturb him except when I feel I've done something worthwhile. It's a rare relationship — unconditional and [professional]]."

"To have won a place in his heart among all those he has mentored and created, itself is a distinction."

"With this film I have made more money than any of my other films. It was a high-wire act."

"Who will speak like that? In our generation there have not been friends like Rajini and I are. He could have just said a few words of praise and gone away – and then there was no need to say."

"Glad my name came up. Thank audience, mentor, all who made my workplace enjoyable."

"Subjugation is something which is an impedance on the ascent of man."

"I'm proud of her [Shruti] because she isn't doing a product of our home banner Rajkamal Films. The only thing Rajkamal did for her was to give her a chance to do the background score in ‘Unnaipol Oruvan’. It wouldn't matter to me if she failed as a movie actress. But right now it looks like a winning streak."

"When we talk career, we get into an argument. In Hindi films, she is facing the same problems I did. If a K. Balachander hadn't come along to do 'Ek Duuje Ke Liye' with me in Hindi, I wonder what would've happened to me! I would have suffered much worse because Shruti is far more savvy than me."

"...for the Tamil version of ‘[[w:Dasavatharam|Dasavatharam’, she was my coach for my American accent. She had just returned from the US and was the perfect medium to help her father's Madrasi accent to be transformed into a yankee accent. She was a bully. She made me do many retakes in the dubbing. And after dubbing, she wanted me to correct some more of my accent. Everyone thought that was taking it a little too far."

"I was always a reluctant actor! I continue to be that. I announce a project, the camera rolls and I'm happy. I'm fortunate to be doing leading parts even now. Except for my mentor K. Balachander, for whom I can do even a walk-on part. When he directed his 100th film, I just walked in to do a small role. I just clowned around on camera."

"Balachander is my inspiration. He had a heart problem 40 years back. He has been making films for another 46 years. He can never grow old. My father used to be like that until he suffered a stroke. Then I suddenly realized he was an old man.That's also true of my brothers Chandra Haasan and to an extent Charu Haasan.I can never imagine them being old."

"Direction is a lot of responsibility. But if you've been trained under Balachander as I have, it's a lot easier. You have everything down on paper before you start shooting. By now while directing I am experienced enough to know my moves."

"He is a cool cat. I was surprised when he had a heart problem...People think my film with Mani, ‘Nayakan’, is my best work. To an extent it's true. But I'd like to think my best is yet to come."

"I am awestruck and I am happy to see that the book fair happens. I’ve learnt everything I know on the go, like my mother tongue."

"I have great respect for the unconditional teachers called books. Because from a book, you can either learn, or you can’t."

"Someone once asked me what my working timetable was like and when was the last time I went on a holiday. I said about 20 years back. I don’t work anymore, because I get paid to do what I like most. So it’s like a paid holiday."

"Actors can be refined and be better. I’m an improved version of whatever you’ve seen earlier. I do not say this with arrogance, but it is my duty to be better than my predecessor and it’s my duty to see that my successor is better than me."

"For two and a half years, I rigorously trained seven to eight hours a day in two disciplines of dance but moved on to the most versatile medium called cinema which encompassed every form of art."

"I am looking for excellence. Anyone can struggle but they cannot make a ‘perfect’ film."

"It is an award for American excellence that excludes and sometimes gracefully includes some other countries. It is an institution or brand created by Hollywood to promote itself, an award decided by 15 people. How nice it would have been if Satyajit Ray, instead of all his awards, got a few more audiences?"

"It is wrong to celebrate 100 years of cinema with just India. It is 100 years of cinema for Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka. All these places saw Indian cinema as it was produced in Lahore, Mumbai, Chennai — it went all the way. It is 100 years of cinema of what used to be my India, my Pakistan, my Afghanistan and my Sri Lanka. That’s how an artist looks at it and it’ll soon be my world. It is the governments and political interests that create borders."

"Mediocrity is set as a standard...rubbish becomes acceptable. This has been the state of Tamil politics for nearly half a century"

""I am anti everything that goes wrong for the people. As for extremism, Hindu extremism exists, read the Tamil papers."

"Many don't get the idea of centrism...we do not have to be left or right"

"From babyhood to childhood, from adolescence to youth, from manhood to middle age, I have been part of this magician's life... Kamal has evolved into everything that I have dreamed he would be. Indeed, I should never be surprised by anything he achieves, yet I am constantly amazed."

"Yes, I own Kamal. Yet, he does not belong to me — he belongs to the world of cinema. It is often argued that had he been born abroad, he would have won the Oscar many times over."