I feel that cinema can't change society or bring a revolution. I'm also not sure of cinema as a medium of education. Documentaries can be educative, not feature films.

People should know what the India of 2018 was like. They shouldn't end up seeing only Salman Khan films 200 years later. India is not like that.

I am totally for first timers. I always hear them seriously. I have done so many films with first timers, and I've never regretted it.

My agent wanted me to audition for Dumbledore's character after Richard Harris died. I was asked if I would like to audition for it. But I wouldn't audition for it.

I am never comfortable working with stars.

In theatre, there is a unique feeling of everyone working as a team, which you never get in films.

I don't take reviews seriously. I don't even read them. Who is this person blasting forth his opinion? What's his worth, and how different is he from any man on the street?

I don't look at my work as an avenue for generating more work. For me, my work itself is sufficient.

It would be impossible to find an actor to portray Om Puri, so I wouldn't even attempt it.

No actor can give his best performance without the help of the director.

It is always a pleasure to be directed by an actor because they know the scene from the actor's perspective, too. That's an advantage.

If I criticize my country, it is indeed very painful for me. It doesn't make me happy. But, if I see something wrong, it becomes my duty to speak up.

Being good or evil has nothing to do with religion.

I think our cinema has stayed in its adolescent stage largely because of our obsession with and our dependence upon stars to make our movies. The stars, being only too human, realise that this is the case, and so they milk it for whatever it's worth, and who can blame them?

Actors have to learn that they are as important to a movie as the camera is, as important as the sound is, and less important than the script is.

Acting is learnt, not taught.

When I first dreamt of becoming a movie star, I wanted to be a Gary Cooper: I wanted to be rich and famous, living in palaces and wearing dark glasses and white suits.

The ballooning budgets of Bollywood are getting out of hand, and it's important for people to realise that you don't need Rs 20 crore to make a good, commercially viable film.

There's so much hocus-pocus about acting styles; there's too much mysticism attached to it. But it's a craft like any other - it's something you have to work hard at.

My relationship with my father still troubles me because it never got resolved, and there was no closure. There was a lot of bitterness, but having written about it, I found that I was able to overcome that bitterness and look at the relationship anew.

I realise that I have made quite a few of the same mistakes with my kids that my dad made: not so much in trying to determine their lives for them but in terms of trying to discipline them.

There are a lot of people in my family who should have become actors.

As an actor, you have got to learn your job as thoroughly as you can. If you know your job, then there's nothing that can stop you. Because the bottom line is that only good actors will get work.

I do what work I get. I'm disappointed half the time.

There is no such thing as serious cinema in India.

The stuff that is done on Broadway is hardly theatre. It is part magic show, part rock concert, and part conjuring things.

To me, the most important elements in a theatre are the actors and the texts.

When my bank balance runs low, then I sign a big Bollywood monstrous movie, and I make sure that I am safe for the next few years.

A lot of scripts are written with an eye on what will be popular or what will titillate or what this actor can do well. I don't think those kinds of scripts ever work.

You can't make a film for your personal satisfaction. That is why I detest the cinema of people like Mani Kaul.

Everyone equates good cinema with boring shots and boring films - where a character takes 10 minutes to walk down a corridor, and still nothing happens at the end of the shot. Those films tried to be cool and fashionable by dispensing with drama, which, in my opinion, is absolute nonsense.

It is very tough to make a short film. It's like writing a short story, which is tougher than writing a novel. You can't afford to faff around; you can't indulge. You have to get to the point.

I'm not trying to prove myself a great filmmaker. I don't know much about filmmaking anyway. I'm trying my hand at it to see if I'm any good.

Hindi cinema has only one religion, and that's money.

I was never turned down because I was a Muslim. I was turned down because I was not right for the part.

A family business in cinema is not necessarily creative. It is generally about prolonging your family fortune.

Learning a craft is up to you, whether you are doing theatre or movies.

I don't think anybody becomes an actor to serve theatre or to serve art anywhere. We all become actors because we are insecure people who want to be looked at. That was the reason I became an actor.

I'm not a political person; I'm not an activist. I'm not a guy with strong beliefs about anything. I have nothing to say to the world.

When I was 14 and went on the stage for the first time, it stimulated me so much that I was convinced that I didn't want to do anything else.

Acting is no longer a taboo. The stigma has gone because people have realised that it's a perfectly valid career choice.

Any youngster who comes to me and says he wants to act, I tell him to complete his education first because, for too long, uneducated actors have ruled the roost in the acting world.

I don't want any memorials or a grave which my children would have to look after or feel guilty about. I don't want to leave any trace except for the work I have done.

I have done practically everything that I wanted to do in my life.

Sometimes, more money is spent on promotion of a film than the making of it. I don't understand that logic. The movie should run on its merit.

Undeniable though it is that many Indian Muslims misguidedly consider Pakistan their haven, the immeasurably greater number who take intense pride in being Indian and who connect deeply with the country are hurt and angered at our patriotism being under scrutiny.

Granted, patriotism is not a tonic that can be forced down people's throats.

Nowhere else, perhaps, is the Quran recited so much and understood so little as in India.

Given a choice, I prefer directing a play to a film.

From playwrights I had never heard of and performance forms I had never seen to sculpture and painting, I gained immense experience as an actor in National School of Drama (NSD). I discovered what discipline and good taste in the theatre means.