“When I began acting, my biggest fear was whether the audience will appreciate the kind of films I do.”

Mohan Raja is an interesting filmmaker. He is constantly, if I may use the word, contradicting himself. He explains a scene, and then he will try to break that and rebuild it. That, to me, is filmmaking. Every scene is constructed after a lot of discussions.

When I am with my friends, I am comfortable.

The closest encounter I had with films in my childhood was sitting on the lap of my father at a shooting set, and he would say ‘rain,’ and it started raining, and then he would say ‘song,’ and people started dancing. I thought I was sitting on God’s lap.

I don’t expect to win awards while working in films.

I know it’s a big gamble, but I want to do good films.

My films may not have a great opening, but I am not bothered about it. Whatever the numbers be, I want those viewers who come for my films to be excited about watching the movie.

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

My father hasn’t backed me in any way, and I don’t think anybody has backed me.

There are two kinds of films: the ones that are devoid of logic but can still hijack the audience, and those that can win them over with logic. Both kinds can succeed, and I like to work in both.

I think everything is temporary.

Failure affects me hard.

It is easier to produce a film on your own than convincing another person to come on board.

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.

Being onstage is just a feeling that you cannot duplicate anywhere else because the energy that the audience is giving you forces you to give more energy. It’s such an output and exchange of energy. You can’t do that anywhere else.

As an audience member, I like the sound of something that’s been written – I like it to sound written. And then, of course, you can’t do it without the musicians who can play it.

Trying to guess what the (mass) audience wants and then trying to satisfy that is usually a bad recipe for getting something good.

The main thing is to be satisfied with your work yourself. It’s useless to have an audience happy if you are not happy.

I think there are two ways to depict a family. One is what it’s really like, and one is what the audience would like it to be. Between you and me, I think the second one is what I would prefer.

There’s that process of writing it – then you come out of your room into the sunlight, and you now have to complete the circuit and make the connection finally with the audience.

I was born, so that the whole world could be a spectator Of my triumph or my doom.

I began to work the stage and get the audience into it. I also learned how to have fun out there. It is something I will never forget.