“For a film maker, an Oscar is like a Nobel Prize, you know. So I am very happy… delighted. There is nothing more after this. I cannot hope to get anything more prestigious.”

I was interested in both Western and Indian classical music.

What is attempted in these film is of course a synthesis. But it can be seen by someone who has his feet in both cultures. Someone who will bring to bear on the films involvement and detachment in equal measure.

My films play only in Bengal, and my audience is the educated middle class in the cities and small towns. They also play in Bombay, Madras and Delhi where there is a Bengali population.

I had developed this habit of writing scenarios as a hobby. I would find out which stories had been sold to be made into films and I would write my own treatment and then compare it.

The director is the only person who knows what the film is about.

Most of the top actors and actresses may be working in ten or twelve films at the same time, so they will give one director two hours and maybe shoot in Bombay in the morning and Madras in the evening. It happens.

I wouldn’t mind taking a rest for three or four months, but I have to keep on making films for the sake of my crew, who just wait for the next film because they’re not on a fixed salary.

I don’t start a film with the heroine but with the cinema subject. If there is a woman in the story, she has to be of a particular type. It’s not as if I start with Madhuri Dixit and then think what kind of film.

The conception of background music is changing. You use less and less of it these days.

It was only after Pather Panchali had some success at home that I decided to do a second part. But I didn’t want to do the same kind of film again, so I made a musical.

When I write an original story I write about people I know first-hand and situations I’m familiar with. I don’t write stories about the nineteenth century.

I’ve made seventeen or eighteen films now, only two of which have been original screenplays, all the others have been based on short stories or novels, and I find the long short story ideal for adaptation.

There’s always some room for improvisation.

Sometimes a director is making three films. Perhaps he is shooting a film in Madras and a film in Bombay and he can’t leave Madras as some shooting has to be done, so he directs by telephone. The shooting takes place. On schedule.

I mix Indian instruments with Western instruments all the time.

At the age when Bengali youth almost inevitably writes poetry, I was listening to European classical music.

When happiness points in one direction while wisdom, truth, integrity, and common sense point in another, that’s when really smart people start doing really stupid things.

I’m so happy now. I love that I’m in a relationship right now… I want a life… The past five years or so I’ve found my groove and my balance.

I don’t see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness.

As women, we have more of a tendency to be people-pleasers, and I know a lot of women who are not vocal about what makes them happy.

Really, what I try to instill in my fans is to be healthy and happy. I have no desire to be super-skinny.

This earthly life is a battle,’ said Ma. ‘If it isn’t one thing to contend with, it’s another. It always has been so, and it always will be. The sooner you make up your mind to that, the better off you are, and more thankful for your pleasures.

I want to be safe in the knowledge that I can tour and play festivals for a long time. The main thing is that I want a good reputation as a live performer. If I have that, I’d be so happy.

The rule of my life is to make business a pleasure, and pleasure my business.