I can't really iterate what I look for in a script. It's a very subjective thing. Like an organic attachment you have with the script and characters.

There's a need to create a space for different kind of films. Let all kind of films co-exist peacefully.

I had these false ambitions - marketing and MBA. I didn't do very badly at it, but I realised my calling was something else.

I don't analyze after I've done a film. So I have no dream role.

I get paid to act. I've never acted free for anybody and I'd rather be rewarded than awarded.

I remember my first role as a sunflower at nine.

People often accuse me of being serious. Have I played serious roles in 'Honeymoon Travels' and 'Sankat City?' It is just that after the films were made, producers did not have money to bombard it all over the place.

Cinema is not about wearing 'bikni' and showing 'six packs'... All these are secondary.

We are a jingoistic nation - whether it is politics or films or whatever. We can posthumously shower praises and accolades on people, but when they are alive, we don't bother about them. A classic case is Om Puri.

I don't have the expertise in that department, I seriously lack the skill to market myself.

I was born in Kerala, where my maternal grandparents lived, and stayed there till the age of one, after which I came to Maharashtra to live with my parents and moved all around the state with my father, who worked as a superintendent in an ordnance factory.

Preparing for roles sounds so academic, doesn't it? It feels as if you are preparing for an examination! In a creative medium, the preparation is of an entirely different kind, and for me, the ideas flow from the script itself.

I sift through the scripts offered to me and see what is worth attempting, because I think there is no point in wasting your time in doing something which you are not too keen on. I try and do whatever I feel interested in.

I like to be by myself, probably because I have been a single child.

I can't pretend to do something I don't like.

I don't bother about awards.

Be honest and accept it if you do not have talent. And if you do, hone your skills.

If you don't have integrity, don't be in cinema.

The paradox of perfection is that you should try and achieve it by doing quality work even though you know you can never achieve it.

Acting is a symbiotic process, it is an amalgamation of many many things put together and when there is a call for action, that's when you surrender and the moment of truth comes out, that's when you perform. That is the process for every good actor.

Every human being has a plethora of emotions. As an actor, we are lucky to take them out and portray onscreen. But in normal life you can't do that. That is the charm of leading an actor's life.

Content films necessary don't go by the content, they go by the emotions. Content films are about content whether you want to portray the content or sell it through humour, through seriousness, is a choice of the filmmaker.

I have lived life on my own terms.

I believe religion is a branch of spirituality, often misinterpreted and twisted to suit people's ideas. In truth, religion and spirituality are meant to co-exist happily.

I like to promote my work. I do the promotion for my work because that is required. Apart from that I just don't know how to promote myself, to be honest, I think my work ideally should speak for itself.

Yes, I am extremely choosy. You decide whether to do a film or not only after you meet and talk to the film-maker. Only someone who thinks out of the box excites me.

I don't play roles, I play characters. There is a vast difference between the two.

I returned to Pune in the 90s to do my MBA from the University of Pune as in that period there were not many MBA institutes in the city!

You have to be truthful and believable in whatever you do and that is the founding principle of acting.

If you make a good film, then there's no harm if it achieves commercial success.

The city helped open my mind creatively and culturally. Pune has the power to make you realise your dream.

Let's not betray cinema with marketing inside the film. If it's done outside, then it's ok. That is essential to integrity.

I am an avid tennis player.

I was true to myself because I realized I was a better actor than signer.

I don't understand when people say character actors. You either have the protagonist or the antagonist and I've played both. It's an actor's role to play a character. Does that mean that main stream heroes and heroines are characterless?

In my case, I'm in touch with God in good times and bad. I don't use God as a means of favour. And I can't do business with him - the very thought is bizarre.

I believe man is stripped naked when he's in conversation with God. Your deepest fears, strongest desires, highest hopes - they're all there when you are talking to God.

If you want to grow a business, you want to make profit. Only then it is good business.

It does not mean that in the process of a small screen, I do small acting, or if I do a big screen project, I do big acting. For the actor, it does not matter.

An actor should not bother about the camera per se, and what kind it is.

Award functions are a big sham. It's a money-making television programme.

As an actor, I like my films to be believable.

When I see good films not doing well, irrespective of my role being appreciated or not, I have a problem because then the producer who has made a loss will never believe in investing in good cinema.

The industry is all about money. It has nothing to do with talent and calibre. The star system is a money game.

For me, the film-maker is more important than the story.

I believe in cinema! Unfortunately, 90 per cent of Hindi cinema is non-cinema. Only marketing works here. Even the item songs in these films are an extension of marketing.

I am not really attached to my films and work. The film industry is just a small part of my life.

The moment you achieve perfection, you are dead. The word exists because we are all imperfect. That is true about performance as well.

I keep an open mind when a script is narrated to me.

I am happy with the roles I play.