“I come around to your house personally and wet your finger while you’re turning the pages.”

Our film industry as well as the audiences are now open to unconventional pairings and subjects, which has aided my journey greatly.

There’s a great charm in theatre; I enjoyed doing it for twelve years and did lots of plays. At this chapter of my life.

I used to follow celebrities, and I remember I watched Sanjay Dutt and Pooja Bhatt shooting for ‘Sadak’. I was standing on the road at three in the night, but little did I know that I would be making a film with Sanjay at some point in my career.

I’m not a hero or a superstar. I’m an everyday guy. I feel happy when children approach me. I feel that something good is happening in life when little kids recognise me.

Drugs are very much a part of professional sports today, but when you think about it, golf is the only sport where the players aren’t penalized for being on grass.

No affairs for me. It is so wonderful to have a family to come home to, to sit with them, pull each other’s legs… To lose all of that for what? Who’s got the time? I’m having great fun working.

Hopefully, we’ll come to know in a few years whether it can become one of the great films.

Very few movies remain in public memory as landmark films and I want to see whether 3 Idiots will be up there with some of the wonderful films that have come out of this country…

My theory is children don’t do what you tell them to do, they do what you do. You have to always do the right thing because they follow you.

Chilli ice cream doesn’t taste bad. But I wouldn’t eat it again.

I don’t mind being identified as any character as long as I’m doing a good job as an actor. I have done all kinds of roles – from an editor, judge, police officer, murderer to a corrupt businessman.

I bask in the affection I get on the streets. I recently went into the kitchen of a restaurant to meet the cooks. They were people I didn’t know, but what a joy it was meet them! Such experiences wouldn’t happen if I were doing only one kind of cinema.

When I was on the Ryder Cup team and I surrounded myself with the other 11 guys and our captains, being in that locker room, it gave me an extra sense of confidence.

Having a family, taking care of your kids and people outside yourself, maybe it’s motivated me more to give that extra something.

It seems at times as if they possessed some extra sense – the home sense – which operates unerringly.

They used to call me ‘Touchdown T.’ I remember in high school, we had homecoming, and I got in front of the pep rally, and I told them, ‘I’m going to run for three touchdowns.’ I ran for three touchdowns, kicked the extra point, and took myself out the game.

I sleep nine hours every night, I have a little nap after lunch, and, if I’m going out for dinner, I sneak in an extra one before I head out.

I have a final word of advice to our students. If you work very, very hard, this is the kind of actor, writer and director you may turn out to be, and if you work extra hard, this is the kind of person you may turn out to be.

Poetry is an extra hand. It can caress or tickle. It can clench and fight.

It’s just a huge boost for us to have one extra playmaker on our defense.