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

Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who has produced my earlier films, is still a part of 'PK' and is presenting it. He is not a hands-on producer - he used to put a certain amount in the bank and give me the cheque book.

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

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.

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 completely work on the basis of my intuition. I don't think I premeditate a success formula. There is no formula to make a successful film.

Filmmaking is a very collaborative art. Unlike a painting that an artist paints sitting by himself, as a director, you have to work with a team.

Writing is a lonely process.

I edit as I write and shoot. Any extra line, any pause that I know will get chopped on the editing table is done away with then and there.

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.

When you focus on your own work, it all falls in place. People respect you.

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

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

I have the highest respect for the concept of 'Advait' - the oneness of all humans - that is central to Indian culture, thought, and religion.

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

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

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.

I am not really worried about how others perceive me.

So you know, as a filmmaker you have to get it all right in the writing stage. After that, one has to leave it on the judgement of your trusted ones and the audiences.

Whenever I finish a film, I feel that this is the worst film that I have made. This is bound to happen because while writing, directing and editing a film, I would have lived it 5000 times. Naturally, one tends to loose objectivity.

For me, cinema is happiness.

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

Scale is very easy actually. Put a camera on a jib or a drone and get bloody big shots on big sets, it's very easy. But then you're distracted. If you're looking at the shot, you aren't following the story any more.

In Hollywood, the system is so streamlined, the administration is in place. That's why every six months Spielberg is able to make a film.