I grew up in a Britain where 'Paki-bashing' was around in my late teens from the National Front. We also had 'Pakis Go Home,' and even 'Jewel In The Crown' attracted this sort of comment.
— Art Malik
I was doing 'Homeland' and read the first two episodes, and all I wanted was episode three to know what would happen next.
Today, loss is something everybody feels. It could be the loss of a friend moving away. It could be your best friend moves to the other side of town or his family does. It's a loss.
I'm lucky: I've got great photogenic eyes. You're up and running if you've got that and one brain cell to attach it to.
My idea of a great holiday is not to go out. It's to find somewhere where I'm not confronted by people coming up to me and saying, 'You're Art Malik, aren't you?' It's quite nice sometimes not to be recognised.
I love listening to music on holiday, and back in the old days, I used to travel with cassette tapes and a boombox.
I do sometimes cook myself, and I do enjoy it, though it does depend what's in the fridge, and filming can mean I don't have much time.
Most families are dysfunctional.
Having portrayed English-speaking Indian characters in British and American projects, I have always wanted to use my mother tongue in an Indian film.
Acting's a job. I act to fill the fridge.
There was so much racism when I was a kid, but it was also ignorant.
If people ever stop making films about India, I'd never work again.
Stick a camera up in an Indian village, and thousands of people come to watch.
When I was 13, I decided I was British and was going to stay that way.
I've had a fantastic career playing great parts. In many ways, the colour of my skin has been an asset because I've been asked to play certain roles as a result. I don't apologise for playing them anymore than Robert de Niro is sorry for playing American-Italians.
To see the difference between when I came to Britain in 1955 with what it is today, to see how the sub-continent has been embraced, it is quite extraordinary.
My all time favourite films - one is 'Mary Poppins,' and the other one is 'Pakeezah.' 'Pakeezah' was an Indian film. The beauty of 'Pakeezah' was that it had a soundtrack which was pure poetry.
I hope to work in Indian films again. I would love to.
The easiest bit is when you're talking. It's listening that is so difficult. If you get out any Spencer Tracy film, you think, 'Wow, he's doing nothing, yet he's doing everything.'
I would like to go to Iceland to see the northern lights.
The bagel budget for 'Sex and the City 2' could pay for 'Ghosted.'
My own mother is very accomplished and makes things like bahar breads as though they are going out of fashion - they are like stuffed parathas and can contain anything from potatoes to poppy seeds.
Not until somebody turns round and says, 'Art, how do you fancy playing Charles Dickens? How do you fancy playing Prince Charles in this biopic?' Until those movements come, then no, we haven't got past anything.
I'm not a practising Muslim.
I have therapy. Every day. I read a bit of Freud; I try to be a better person. Every day.
There are certain things that I know I don't want to do anymore. Playing out-and-out terrorists who terrorise people and don't actually move the conversation on are not worth doing. So that's probably another reason I don't go back to America, because a lot of it is like that. It's boring, dull, very lazy writing.
I was lucky enough to be launched into the marketplace with the blessing of a series like 'Jewel.'
I questioned the blind faith demanded by my religion, which was Islam.
You can watch TV and see experts of all different colours and hues. But the minute you get past nine o'clock and you're in primetime drama land, it's like entering another world, one that doesn't reflect the diversity of the society that we have in Britain in 2016.
Am I overjoyed when somebody says, 'Oh, we're going to do another Jane Austen?' No - because there's never anything in it for me.
My work is really simple. They say 'action,' I do my stuff; they say, 'cut!'
We all understand loss. It's about what you do with that.
'True Lies' reinvented me in the eyes of a new generation and got me offers.
How can you turn down Marks and Gran? Their scripts are so rich in texture.
I always think it's kind of fun to get to the airport early, check in, and then go and have a meal before getting on the plane.
I grew up in Balham in south London, and my best friend's brother was Geoffrey Robinson, who of course later became paymaster general, but at that time, he was working in politics.
I grew up in the Fifties and Sixties and remember how unpleasant all kinds of food could be then.
When will we get a female director-general of the BBC? Where is the colour when you go further up the food chain? It disappears.
When we were discussing 'Holby City, 'I told the producers that I wanted the Art Malik character to be honourable, and my other requirement was that he be a Muslim, because we need Muslims on TV.
I have no idea whether I'm any good or not. Still waiting, like most actors, for somebody to find out one day that I can't do it.
I jumped at the chance of doing 'Holby.' It's a great show.
When we did 'The Jewel In The Crown,' we filmed in India first so the actors had an idea of what the heat was like, what it did to you - it slows you down; it's weighty: the air that you breathe is full of humidity. You are aware of the fact that you're not in a studio in Manchester.
I decided to go and find India on my own. So, I hired a cab for a drive round old Delhi. I was knocked off center by the sheer energy that goes into daily survival.
I'm a grandfather now, and when I watch children's shows with my two-year-old grandson, Arlo, I'm delighted because it's completely non-traditional casting. It feels like a utopia. How the world should be.
