“My thought process is in Malayalam. So, every time I have to work outside Malayalam, the process is a little stressful. I have to translate my Malayalam thoughts into English and back to Tamil.”

It doesn’t matter to me how I look on screen. What matters to me is how I connect with the audience.

When I began acting, my biggest fear was whether the audience will appreciate the kind of films I do.

I trust my directors to see me through, for I don’t consider myself as a natural actor – or a good one at that.

I have never been 100% confident that I am right about anything.

I believe that anyone with a bit of guidance can act.

Most of the films that I do help me learn something.

I’ve always wanted to do a role based on a real-life person.

I will continue to do films that excite me.

I like to laugh and to make people laugh.

When I choose the scripts, all I look forward to is an impressive narration.

The only thing my famous last name got me was a foothold in the industry. That was the easy part. The biggest problem is survival. As Fazil’s son, I am expected to know everything – acting, dancing, horse riding… I am not trained in all these, and I don’t think I ever will be.

Every character, when it comes to a cinematic representation, gets complicated and layered. You are given a lot of dimensions than a single dimension to an individual. That’s the main difference between seeing something out of the window and seeing something on screen.

I have grown up seeing success and failure.

Failure is part and parcel of the process of experimenting with roles and films.

For me, ‘Diamond Necklace’ is a commercial attempt, as it has songs and glamour.

People expect star kids to be perfect – horse-riding, fighting.

We woke up one day, and all the sudden Starbucks was in the middle of this political crossfire between the people who want to bring a gun into Starbucks and the people who want to prevent it. It is a very difficult, fragile situation.

I’m very low-key. I don’t really blend in, so it’s difficult to go out in public. I like to do things that are kind of quiet, whether it’s a dinner at my house or a restaurant, or a movie night at home.

When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time.

One difficulty follows another very fast – but God reigns, not chance.

It may be difficult to understand why a test comes our way, but we must never forget that the test is accomplishing refining and purification.

Difficult as it is really to listen to someone in affliction, it is just as difficult for him to know that compassion is listening to him.

In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose the path of social justice…, the path of faith, the path of hope, and the path of love toward our fellow man.

There are three stages in the work of God: impossible, difficult,done.