“I want my films to make money first. Awards and all can come later.”

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.

The characters I portray are an extension of what I’ve seen, heard, or read, and so what you see in my films are how I understand life.

People know me through my characters. I don’t think they have any idea about the individual that I am. They know I am a director’s son, and I am married to an actress.

I am a person who doesn’t like responsibility of any kind. But I do enjoy what I do.

It doesn’t matter to me how I look on screen. What matters to me is how I connect with the audience.

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

I trust my directors to see me through, for I don’t consider myself as a natural actor – or a good one at that.

I have never been 100% confident that I am right about anything.

My thought process is in Malayalam. So, every time I have to work outside Malayalam, the process is a little stressful. I have to translate my Malayalam thoughts into English and back to Tamil.

I believe that anyone with a bit of guidance can act.

Most of the films that I do help me learn something.

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

Wages, in real terms, have been stagnant since the 1970s.

When you have no money, you’re penniless. When you have no love, you’re poor.

A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money.

Money may not buy happiness, but it can damn well give it.

We don’t do it for the money, we do it for the music.

You know, I always say white is not a color, white is an attitude, and if you haven’t got trillions of dollars in the bank that you don’t need, you can’t be white.

Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.

I’m hopeless with money; I simply spend what I’ve got.