“I am an actor, and I would like to reinvent myself through every character that I portray.”

If I had my way, I want to do 15 films in a year, but I have realised I cannot physically do that.

I have been fortunate to collaborate with people who have been open to discussion. If I tell them something, they have always explained to me why they want it the other way.

Let me make something clear: I can’t do anything in particular to make others laugh. I do what is necessary for a character. The body language of the character may make others laugh.

The less people know about you, the more you understand how beautiful life is. It’s good when you exist only on screen. I don’t want them to take me home. I love to have my privacy.

What I look for in a project is whether the storyline excites me.

I never wanted to be an actor but ended up being one.

Roles don’t fascinate me. It is the narrative, the screenplay that is fascinating.

If I do a film, I go to the place where it is based on, interact with people, and then, I believe, you pick up things without you even noticing.

It feels good to hear good things about yourself.

When you are talking about human emotions, stardom doesn’t matter.

Whenever I have really enjoyed being part of a film, it has worked well for me.

Offscreen, I’m a private person. I’m shy and don’t know how to face the public.

All I want to do is to make movies that are appealing to people.

I have always maintained that the audience should take a call on this. Its up to them to decide whether they want to see a pirated version or not. They should understand the effort and amount of hard work that go into a film.

In Malayalam, I can improvise, and acting is easy because I think in Malayalam, but for ‘Velaikkaran,’ I had to prepare for a role, which is a first for me.

I think it would be a dream for any actor to play someone like Changampuzha.

Frankly, I’m an actor right now because of Shah Rukh. When I was in school and even when studying engineering, I used to watch his films.

As an actor, you think you know your craft, you know the conflicts in your character, but often you don’t.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui is the best actor because his choice of roles are so diametrically opposite from each other, and he pulls it off almost every time so convincingly.

It’s cruel to compare two actors working with two different filmmakers on two different characters.

You have to trust your instincts. There is a moment when an actor has it, and he knows it.

Don Siegel last advice to me was ‘Don’t short yourself.’ He said the tendency is when an actor’s directing is to kind of you want to work on everybody else but you’re going to short yourself. He said, take the time to do a good job with yourself so that you’re satisfied with it.

A star on a movie set is like a time bomb. That bomb has got to be defused so people can approach it without fear.

In other words, I wouldn’t like to be an actor if I could only be real. I like to get wild, behaviourally wild, and it’s crazy to think of any form where it’s just one way.