“There is a very thin line dividing characterisation from impersonation. I’ve to make sure I don’t cross over into mimicry.”

What people think of me doesn’t affect me. As bizarre as it sounds, I don’t have a Google alert on my phone; I don’t read newspapers, and I don’t watch television. If something important happens, I will get to know about it.

I realised quite early that by the time I articulate my thoughts into words, I’m on to another thought. And what comes out wasn’t what I thought of exactly. So not talking was a better option.

I left everything I had to become an actor. So, I better be excited, or otherwise, there is no point in doing all this. Else I would end up being disappointed with whatever I achieve.

Since I think I am very boring in normal life, I tend to hide behind all these exciting characters, making people believe that I am someone else entirely. That feeling is very powerful.

People assume that actors working in films won’t have the time to do theatre. But I make sure that whenever I’m free, I watch a play.

I read the script. If I like it, I would do anything I am asked to.

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

I never think about what people will think when they watch me on screen.

I am not bothered with whether my characters are conventional or not. Because I am not in this for the designer labels and the autographs.

I think people generally are lost, as they keep thinking about what is going to happen and what they have done. They are not alive anymore. The art of listening is missing. In their head, they are doing something else.

We should never forget the inevitable, as we will lose everything eventually. So, why fret over any kind of security? The idea is to just fly and experience it all while it lasts.

I am learning the importance of living in the moment.

Money was a big differentiator when I was growing up, but I made sure it doesn’t stay that way.

I am not saying that those who crave for conventional stardom are wrong in their aspirations. But that’s not what I want.

I am not lost. I am very much alive.

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.

I create women characters by watching the female staff at my studio. Half the staff are women.

Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.

Man scans with scrupulous care the character and pedigree of his horses, cattle, and dogs before he matches them; but when he comes to his own marriage he rarely, or never, takes any such care.

Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.

Those who assume a character which does not belong to them, only make themselves ridiculous.

Difficulty shows what men are.

You will be better advised to watch what we do instead of what we say.

Where you stand depends on where you sit.