Chennai is the birthplace of a new language in cinema. The audiences here are the most evolved moviegoers to be found anywhere in India.
I didn't ask anyone to make me a poster boy, because poster boys always end up on dart boards.
I want my films to be seen everywhere.
I love travelling, and most scripts have been written while I have been travelling.
It was only in the early 1990s - during my student years as an aspiring scientist at Delhi University - that I discovered the world of cinema.
When people who are seeking change start out, they are driven by commitment to a cause. But as internecine power struggles take over, one-time idealists fall prey to corruption. They become just as corrupt and manipulative as the system that they want to overthrow.
I think the perspective that small-town directors bring to films is very different.
Entertainment's definition has been reduced to making people happy.
I think the Internet has changed the world.
Through movies, I have met nearly everyone I have wanted to, except Woody Allen.
There was a time I had resentment against everything mainstream.
I used to spend a lot of time cutting out film posters from papers and putting them up on the wall in my room.
Politicians need a film appreciation course.
I'm a huge Coppola fan. But more of 'Apocalypse Now' and 'The Conversation.' 'The Godfather' for me is, like, number three or four on the list.
All those pseudo-Hollywood movies set nowhere, with everybody good looking and having great physique - that's not working any more.
I love Back Stage. I have lots of theater friends and actors who depend on Back Stage.
Every film has an origin. It is made under certain circumstances, and that is a very important point that should be kept in mind during a review.
'Bombay Velvet' is my first film in a trilogy about Bombay, before it became a metropolis.
Films are like oxygen for me.
I think about my films for a long time, maybe years, but I write them in days.
Kalki is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am madly in love with her.
There is more to Indian cinema than just Bollywood. I think regional cinema, especially Tamil and Marathi cinema are exploring some really bold themes.
Studios never put pressure. They know the kind of films I want to make.
For me, any kind of thing that has stood for 100 years tells me of the health of that thing. So, cinema completing a hundred years in India just says that it is very healthy.
I don't know if I'd ever want to show my college life in the films I make. I think I've passed that stage long ago.
I am not born to make dreamy movies.
'Aiyyaa' is a very quirky film.
I am a straight talker. I am not politically correct or diplomatic.
Indian films have this obsession with hygienic clean spaces, even though the country's not so clean. They're either shot in the studios or shot in London, in America, in Switzerland - clean places. Everywhere except India.
'The Dark Knight' is a really good movie that reached both critics and mainstream audiences.
I'm very emotional and possessive about all my films.
I do not make movies to send any message, but my treatment makes my viewers think on the subject.
If you get validation from outside, then suddenly everything you do at home is justified.
Cinema is an art form.
The quality of mainstream cinema has changed. A lot of independent voices feel they can leave everything behind and make independent films.
One must go for a film with an open mind; a film best impacts you when your mind is a blank page to the film.
Conventional Indian cinema is about people falling in love. They sing, they dance.
The censor boards are mere redundant forces conspiring to keep the 'bold' films out of reach of the audience.
Cinema is much more than heroes and villains.
The West sometimes doesn't understand Bollywood, but they can definitely understand how Bollywood influences people.
I shoot reality-based movies, and in actual locations, shooting them with a star is next to impossible.
I guess short films have a bright future... The advantage is budget.
