Without its roots in reality, I don't think escapism can survive.
— Rajkumar Hirani
Writing a script consumes so much of time.
I am not really worried about how others perceive me.
For me, cinema is happiness.
Editing is a meditative process. I enjoy it the most. I am not dealing with 200 people.
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.
I like Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and Hrithik Roshan. I would love to work with them all.
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.
Bad choices make good stories.
I have been in advertising and I know my craft well, but ultimately in cinema every scene has to matter, and that has to do with the writing.
100 years of Indian cinema has happened. Anything you do, feels like it has already been done. The struggle is to find a new and unique idea.
I try and get what I want using the strengths that the actors have.
Making a film confusing does not make it intelligent.
I don't think anything comes naturally; you just have to work very hard.
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.
Every film is a journey.
I feel the primary job of cinema is to entertain.
No one sets out to write escapism as a film's subject matter unless, maybe, you are making a fantasy flick.
I get so many scripts a day but none of them inspires me. If I get a good inspiring script, then I will be most happy to make it into a film.
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.
Someday I want to really talk about religion and blind faith. I explored astrologers, palmistry etcetra at length till I believed it was a scam. Even in '3 Idiots' I take a dig at them.
I like human-interest movies that are light-hearted.
The longest break I have taken in my life was 14 days. On the 15th day, I started getting impatient to start work again.
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.
You need to write about something that you really know about or you deeply connect with. Don't fake it.
It is impossible to know what people will like. No market research, formulas will help, it's best to stop guessing.
I've often been asked why my shot-taking is not stylish, why I don't think about visual statements. The truth is, style is irrelevant. I never think of the shot as much as I think of the characters and what they are saying and doing.
I have the highest respect for the concept of 'Advait' - the oneness of all humans - that is central to Indian culture, thought, and religion.
Religion is man-made. Every religion says my 'God is the best.'
Vidhu Vinod Chopra is the only man I see around who makes films because he thinks 'this is a story that needs to be told, so let's tell it.'
Very honestly, I don't feel 'Munnabhai' is a comedy film. I seriously feel it is a very emotional film.
Assuming audiences to be dumb, that's a big fallacy.
I love 'Rang De Basanti.'
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.
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 don't understand why we learn what we do for most of it is of no use to us in our careers. To get a grade, students learn just about everything and later none of this is relevant. Grades become more important than learning.
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.
Nagpur was a very small town. There was no exposure to different kinds of films or world cinema. Only Manmohan Desai films.
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 prefer to be a director and a narrator rather than a writer.
Most biopics are stories of people who achieve something. It's an easier graph, a rags-to-riches story, or wanting something and reaching that. Sanju's life is not actually a case like that.
I feel some people are cynical by nature. You show them anything, they only see the problems and negatives.
Taking nuances from real life will help you make scenes that have never been done before. It keeps the story interesting.
A lot of my writing and my detailing of scenes are based on my observations of life in Nagpur.
You never know the depth of an actor.
An editor does not just join shots. He creates emotions out of the shots.
There's a big time influence Hrishikesh Mukherjee has always had on my work. I can watch 'Anand,' 'Golmaal' or 'Chupke Chupke' as many times as possible. I just really admire his kind of cinema.
I like playing with languages and dialects as we have so many in India. Adding a dialect just makes the dialogues more colorful.
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.
I'm absolutely open to scripts written by someone else.
