I love 'Rang De Basanti.'

Writing is a lonely process.

Bad choices make good stories.

Any holiday seems like a guilt trip.

You never know the depth of an actor.

Chase excellence, success will follow

Writing a script consumes so much of time.

I have a terrible reputation for being nervous.

Attenborough's 'Gandhi' shook me as a filmmaker.

I feel the primary job of cinema is to entertain.

I would say films inspire me more than the makers.

Assuming audiences to be dumb, that's a big fallacy.

I like human-interest movies that are light-hearted.

I am not really worried about how others perceive me.

Making a film confusing does not make it intelligent.

I'm absolutely open to scripts written by someone else.

I prefer to be a director and a narrator rather than a writer.

Religion is man-made. Every religion says my 'God is the best.'

You need to have a liberal point of view for a society to grow.

Without its roots in reality, I don't think escapism can survive.

The more you succeed, the more you want people to love your efforts.

Film-makers are greedy people - we want good stories and good subjects.

As writers, we are sketching people all the time when we write fiction.

It takes time to write a script and properly make the film and edit it.

I think I have taken more holidays with Boman than I have with my wife.

An editor does not just join shots. He creates emotions out of the shots.

Every actor is great in his own right but certain actors suit certain roles.

I take time to write my script, if I have more scripts, I will make more movies.

Editing is a meditative process. I enjoy it the most. I am not dealing with 200 people.

My natural bend is to get attracted towards things that have been an influence in my life.

I think in any work of art, there always will be randomness about what is good, what is bad.

A lot of my writing and my detailing of scenes are based on my observations of life in Nagpur.

PK' is a very unique story. There are no benchmarks in Hindi cinema to give you an idea about 'PK.'

You need to write about something that you really know about or you deeply connect with. Don't fake it.

In 'Sanju,' there are too many colours. Some other filmmaker could have taken a dark side to that story.

I spent five years after '3 Idiots' making my next film. I didn't see a single penny in those five years.

No one sets out to write escapism as a film's subject matter unless, maybe, you are making a fantasy flick.

I feel some people are cynical by nature. You show them anything, they only see the problems and negatives.

I read till I fall asleep. Daytime actually I feel guilty reading - I always feel I should be doing something else!

It is impossible to know what people will like. No market research, formulas will help, it's best to stop guessing.

The longest break I have taken in my life was 14 days. On the 15th day, I started getting impatient to start work again.

One must always attempt to make good films, even if you fail it is ok. It is a journey, you have both good and bad days.

Taking nuances from real life will help you make scenes that have never been done before. It keeps the story interesting.

Nagpur was a very small town. There was no exposure to different kinds of films or world cinema. Only Manmohan Desai films.

In non-fiction, I like Wayne Dyer. I have a compilation of his best quotes near my bed! To me he's one of the finest authors.

The pressure is always there to make good films, but that is more from your mindset, either you have it or you don't have it.

I can lock myself for months in the editing suite with no noise or distractions. It's fascinating to see the film taking shape.

I like playing with languages and dialects as we have so many in India. Adding a dialect just makes the dialogues more colorful.

I'm a film maker, not a crusader. I know a film will not change the world. If it can make a difference to a few that's good enough.

When I make a film, the yardstick is my mind. If I laugh at the jokes and feel sad at the serious undersides, then the subject works.

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