“What I look for in a project is whether the storyline excites me.”

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.

I never wanted to be an actor but ended up being one.

Roles don’t fascinate me. It is the narrative, the screenplay that is fascinating.

If I do a film, I go to the place where it is based on, interact with people, and then, I believe, you pick up things without you even noticing.

It feels good to hear good things about yourself.

When you are talking about human emotions, stardom doesn’t matter.

Whenever I have really enjoyed being part of a film, it has worked well for me.

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.

Don’t let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.

No matter what you achieve, what you want to aspire to be, or how famous and powerful you become, the most important thing is whether you are excited about each and every moment of your life because of your work and people around you.

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.

I will continue doing things irrespective of the medium as long as I’m excited about it.

When you’re young and everything dramatic is exciting, you start to believe that hype that, in order to be an artist, you have to suffer. I’ve graduated from that school.

Stardom is a crazy thought. If that’s what my path is, then that’s where I’m excited to be headed towards.

It’s amazing how people can get so excited about a rocket to the moon and not give a damn about smog, oil leaks, the devastation of the environment with pesticides, hunger, disease.