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

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.

I like movies made by Spike Lee – doing those films out of the U.S., that is really daring.

I would like to do movies of all genres.

I want to entertain viewers as much as possible.

I thoroughly enjoyed shooting for ‘Velaikkaran,’ and I made a great friend in Sivakarthikeyan during the process. Also, it was wonderful working with director Mohan Raja. I have not seen a director who takes so much effort to get things the best way possible.

I do only what I like. If we do something we don’t like, we will become someone else.

People often ask whether marriage has changed me. I didn’t marry because I had to change.

I don’t know how to be professional. But I always enjoy what I do.

I give my best to each role that I do.

All I believe in is, you need to be yourself.

When I listen to a basic thought, I try to visualise the cinema in it. Sometimes it is dark, sometimes boyish, sometimes amateurish. It is a trial and error method. But the bottom line is that I want to entertain the audience.

I want the audience to watch my films, and that is what I value more than any awards.

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

You get used to anything, sooner or later it just becomes your life.

You’re born into this life paying for the sins of somebody else’s past.

Ducking for apples — change one letter and it’s the story of my life.

I haven’t known life to be any happier.

Nothing happens in a vacuum in life: every action has a series of consequences, and sometimes it takes a long time to fully understand the consequences of our actions.

I strive for perfection, but Im not perfect. But what I can say is my morals are totally different than any other 24-year-old rapper my age now. I look at life totally different. A whole other aspect. I have different views and morals on life in general. And opinions.

The past is never the past. It is always present. And you better reckon with it in your life and in your daily experience, or it will get you. It will get you really bad.