My father did not live with us. When he came home, he never took off his shoes - he wouldn't be staying. My father had another family: Although my father had two homes, he paid for our education and household expenses.

I am a mere filmmaker. I am not even aligned to any political party. I vote for the Congress party, and I root for the Congress ideology, but I am not subject to the Congress party.

My last film as director, the National Award winning 'Zakhm,' barely managed to break even. So why should I listen to so-called sensibilities of a handful of critics?

At the end of the day, human beings make mistakes.

Men who create power make an indispensable contribution to a nation's greatness. But, men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable.

Without a good story, a franchise won't work.

I have great reverence for women.

My mother found herself in a triangular situation of my father and his legitimate wife. I experienced the emotional trauma of that triangle in my cradle.

A franchise gives a sense of security to everyone - the director, producers, exhibitors, and even the audience feels that they are watching something close to the first part.

Cinema now can't be just about introspection and atma manthan; such topics won't work.

Life isn't all about entertainment.

No power on earth can ever get me back to directing a commercial film.

The whole idea of 'One size fits all' is not going to work in India with a billion people.

There is no denying that entertainment industries are insular, but you can't generalise that statement and apply it to everyone.

The film industry not only in India but also Hollywood is insular. It's inward-looking.

I don't think the choice of launching Sunny Leone as an actor in Hindi cinema was that radical a decision.

While the male wants to conquer the world, the woman has a take on her immediate world that is so sparklingly refreshing that the male cannot even think of it.

Men like Sunil Dutt should not be mourned, only envied for their greatness.

I come from a home where my mother was the only emotional umbrella under which we found all the warmth and comforts and sustenance. My father would come and go, and not as often as we'd want him to.

I have no worthwhile memories of my father, therefore no idea of what a father's role should be.

'Blood Money' was a stand-alone film, but we worked double for it. We realised how difficult it is to sensitise people to anything new, especially when you don't have a star.

Modi talks about Congress Mukt Bharat. I feel this is a fascist ideology.

I don't give a tinker's damn for posterity.

I was perhaps lucky to be born in a single-parent home where my mother, Shirin Mohammed Ali, was the sole figure I revered. My father's absence in my life in my formative years exposed me to only one person, who was my source of learning the lessons of life. So to me, listening to a woman and her worldly view is almost automatic.

With larger-than-life films, you are lifted from your mundane, ordinary life because you empathise with the hero, and people see themselves in him.

I am an absolute atheist.

A true artist is one who, even after doing a lot, he reminds himself that he hasn't done anything.

Questioning authority can hardly be called our national pastime. We even make a philosophy out of fear. Fatalism, destiny, karma... are the favourite cultural holes we hide in when authority flogs us. And what's our tragedy.

'Citylights' is for those people who know a lot but don't feel at all. It's time for them to feel, and this film will make those people, who know so much, feel because feeling is the life blood of human race, which is disappearing.

My mother was a Muslim and dad a Hindu. I got the best upbringing that anyone could. Never did I see any angst in my family owing to that: each practiced their own religion. My existence is the harmony that these two communities can achieve if they try.

I believe that, at times, if some of us are almost too critical of our society, it's because our sensitivity and our concern for justice makes us aware that our nation falls terribly short of its highest potential.

There is a child in every man, and that's why larger-than-life stories which have a fairly tale component will work.

Campaigning for Congress is an issue of conviction, and there is no element of any personal gain in it.

I love working with newcomers.

The tragedy of India is that the Mahatma, who has numerous streets named after him and has had his statues put up everywhere, who's there in our school books and on our currency, who is used by everyone to hardsell his political ideology, is not emulated in India.

A person doesn't only give money to watch a film: he also gives his time.

I love people who have distinctive, unique personalities who are not in assembly lines and have something to offer.

I feel it is the believers who are most dangerous for the secular framework of a nation.

We work without stars, and we proudly proclaim it. People come to Vishesh Films to work with us, and not because we can create a star.

Films have to appeal to youngsters - it has to have tamasha, drama, and sensationalism.

I was born on September, 20, 1948, to Nanabhai Bhatt, a Hindu, and Shirin Mohammed Ali, a Muslim. I was born after three daughters and followed by a daughter and son.

We as men, need to give the Indian women all the strength that she needs, rightfully asking to be able to walk with head held high.

I think one of the basest of all things is fear. Fear erodes the individual. Fear erodes the nation, the spine of the nation.

I felt it was a privilege that I came from such a rich background. I had the best of both worlds. My mother was a Shia Muslim, while my father was a janoi-clad man. He never pretended to be secular.

'Zakhm' has no political agenda. But, it certainly says things as they are.

If the story-teller is to nourish the roots of his culture, society must set him free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.

I personally feel that religion should be kept private.

I am a people's person. I consume people.

I love to inspire and get inspired.

A long and productive career in the world of films is bound to be checkered with success and failures. You cannot have one without the other; the only way not to make a flop is not to make a film.