I feel with 'Don 2' I got an opportunity to do a very good action with the kind of pace that I would like an action film to have.
— Farhan Akhtar
I love ice cream and gulab jamuns.
Indian food beats everything else, in my book. The kinds of cuisine our country offers is just amazing. Every single dish has a variation depending on what region you go to, and that excites me the most about Indian food.
When not working, my days are lazy.
'Dil Chahta Hai' was too raw. We only thought about the film. We never thought where the film was going to go. We wanted to make a film on our own terms.
From being in a film and shooting to just being in a studio with my guitar and musicians was a welcome change.
'Dil Chahta Hai' is not the first film about friendship. 'Lakshya' is not the first film about war and coming of age.
You have to be grateful for what you have, but you're always pushing further.
I think it is important to time yourself to make the right choices. It's not responsible to go ahead and say a 'yes' or 'no' on a whim.
People want a certain amount of respect when they watch a film: it should be worth of their time.
Everyone has a Milkha Singh in them.
I remember so clearly as a kid, my biggest problem in life was I used to never follow up on anything.
A break-up between couples is traumatic for everyone.
Filmmaking, whatever the window dressing or the scale of a film may be, is eventually about telling a story.
If you had a fabricated story coming out every two weeks or every month, it would affect you. You would be like, 'What's the problem with people?' or 'Why can't they let me be?' And that's the thought that comes into anyone's mind.
As the director, you are the organiser who has to have all the answers. You are the person with maximum clarity.
Nobody is immune to feeling depressed.
If you were to put me under one umbrella, call me a storyteller.
If I don't work out, I lose weight instead of gaining it.
I take a more holistic approach to fitness than trying to achieve a certain body to display.
The power with which you can create a character is tremendous and probably more satisfying than actually being the person.
Amitabh Bachchan was the coolest character in every movie.
When you go to a film set, of course you're going to do your job, and you're excited about being there, but you somehow feel fatigued that you are just doing this day in and day out.
'Deewar' has been remade so many times, 'Trishul' has been remade so many times. But 'Don' - no one has gone into this area as often as they have gone into these other movies, and I think it fits into the modern sensibility of movie viewing quite well.
I am not trained to be a director or an actor. I have learnt everything by watching other people work and studying their work.
As an actor, I am extremely fortunate to portray Milkha Singh on the big screen.
Even within escapist cinema, if you find a good story to tell, it will do well.
When I take up a film, I always think of the effect it will have on my children when they see the film years later.
Every director has a sensibility and style, and what works is his originality and conviction.
My sister Zoya and I have been exposed to the best of cinema of all kinds - Chinese, Japanese, Italian, etc.
If you are a doctor or farmer, be sincere about your profession. If you can do what you do honestly, you will end up serving your country.
Apart from the highs and lows of when your film releases, there's a strange, addictive quality that making a film has because of all that drama. There's so much that goes on, and we miss it when it's over.
Friendship brings in a lot of honesty and trust into any relationship, especially a marriage.
There was a phase when I would just loaf around, doing nothing. It had put my mom under a lot of stress. I knew her stress stemmed from her love for me, yet I never paid attention to her feelings. When it finally hit me that my idleness was taking a toll on her, I was genuinely sad and depressed.
I like to stay within the zone of one character. It would disturb me to break away and go into an entirely different territory.
If someone has behaved badly with a woman. and she hasn't spoken about it for ten, 20, or 30 years, it's her prerogative when she wants to speak.
I love travelling, especially to Goa.
Most Hindi movies tend to dramatise events. They are very dialogue heavy. Characters don't speak like people normally do in real life.
It's only when a project or film doesn't work, that you think about what you could have done differently - whether you chose unwisely, or was there something in your application in that role, as an actor, as a director or as a producer, that you could have done better.
I guess just enjoying what you do and always wanting more of that enjoyment, satisfaction, and putting something together creatively - that gives me a lot of happiness.
I am very fond of technology and like to keep pace with change.
When I made my debut as an actor in 'Rock On!' I was confident to get in front of the camera.
Everything I do is gauged under the shadow of 'Dil Chahta Hai.' Even 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' and 'Rock On,' which are very urban films. So I am always seen through that lens.
Cinema, I always felt, is a very powerful mass medium to translate ideas in an engaging way.
In any case, I am not a great one to make plans for the future.
I like to make films with characters that resemble real people, about societies that exist.
Being a parent to my daughters, son to my parents, and friends to many people, I would wish for a society that's fair to everyone, that's free of prejudice and as non-divisive as possible.
It does not feel any different being directed by a first-timer as long as I am convinced that the director is passionate about the film he or she is making. If you get a sense of their vision for the film and their aesthetics of your performance, then it does not matter whether you work with a new or an experienced director.
I think nothing can be taken for granted - be it the fact that you get to work with a certain kind of talent, certain kinds of budgets, or that the audience looks forward to your work.
Work does affect my personal life, as it consumes most of my time. It takes away a lot from my family time.
