Farah Khan

I don't smoke, drink, do drugs or even have affairs. If I don't even swear, I should be put in a shrine and sanctified.

Every person on Twitter is a critic. Every person who watches a movie will write a blog or a review. You can't go out trying to impress these people.

It is an extremely difficult task to make an entertaining movie, which is completely aesthetic and you can watch again and again.

I've always been told that because of 'Main Hoon Na,' a lot of female filmmakers have come up but I maintain that direction is a 'genderless' job.

It takes two years to make a good film.

After 'Main Hoon Na,' I got married; so I took some time off.

I always say that I'm a filmmaker, not a factory. I don't have to churn out films every six months.

I always feel your movie will be as strong as your weakest link.

When I became a choreographer, I was not assisting any choreographer. I was assisting the director Mansoor Ali Khan for 'Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar.' I was the fourth assistant director.

The most creative director I have worked with is Mani Ratnam.

Filmmaking is all about people management.

Aamir Khan in a sense, was my first teacher for filmmaking. He used to answer my doubts on the sets of 'Joh Jeeta Wahi Sikander.'

We have music playing at home, day and night.

I can take stress on myself but I don't like it when stress comes to my husband or children.

You can only make the film that's in you.

I would say that all my films have more content than a 'content-driven film.' It is not easy to make such films.

I would never want to do a content-driven film with a box office life of Rs 20 crore.

You get paid what you deserve, according to the money that your movie generates. I get much more than a lot of male directors and I also get less than some. But I get paid what I deserve and what I ask for.

People tend to take themselves too seriously.

I think it is important to enjoy your work.

I see people every day who think they're the be all and end all of the industry. I've seen so many people come and go, but the industry doesn't revolve around one person.

I never imagined myself making these big movies and being married and having kids.

Since 'Main Hoon Na' is a cult film, if I want to make a sequel, the story has to be good!

I would love to make a sarcastic film; I am so sarcastic that even my kids are now getting used to my sarcasm. You see it a lot in British comedy because that's their sense of humour.

I am a hands-on mother, so I take long gaps between films.

Movie theatre gives a soulful experience.

I make aesthetic movies which are grand and with some of the biggest stars. It's not fair to run them down. I don't make tacky films.

I like to entertain all kinds of audiences with my films.

There are two aspects around which the dynamics of Bollywood revolve - chivalry and chauvinism.

I am not anti-men, I believe truly that we are meant to be equal. We should be judged equally and I think I am a living example of feminism.

It is really a sad state of affairs if I am still the only commercially successful woman director. We need a lot more commercially viable women, not only in direction.

At least in films you will go, you shoot for four to five months and then you can take a break. But I know how TV works... the directors are mindblowing, they work non-stop.

I'm happy directing films. On television, the direction takes your entire life away.

A part of 'Happy New Year' is inspired by western pop culture, the pop music videos of Michael Jackson, Madonna and Duran Duran in the '80s.

'Main Hoon Na' will always be special since it was my first film but in my subsequent films, I was trying to show off with gimmicks that didn't aid the narrative in any way.

I don't think there is anything new left for me in choreography.

I always wanted to make cinema which will entertain the masses, cinema that could be called escapist but is mounted on a realistic scale with high production values.

When TV came, people said who will go to theatres to watch movies? When the Internet came, they said the same. And now it's the digital media... The doomsday predictions are always there but I don't think people will stop going to cinema halls because that is one experience you can't get at home.

Web series are the future.

In 'Shirin Farhad' I play the character of a Parsi woman. Though I was born a Parsi, in a Parsi family, I don't have the right accent.

Shirin Farhad' is a romantic tale of an unmarried couple who feel they can live together forever. Having crossed the marriageable age, what happens to them forms the crux of the story. The movie has several comic sequences with an emotional touch to it.

For the audience, actors carry out specific roles of men and women through the character that they play out on screen. The director on the other hand is not doing a gender-specific job. So, it is irrelevant if the person who makes a particular film is a man or a woman.

I prefer doing work that projects me as a woman and a mother.

I will only do something if it has credibility for me, and that includes the films I make, the TV shows I judge and ad-campaigns I sign up for.

It is more difficult to make film which does not have a big name. People start questioning the cast and the budget.

When I am making a movie, I am very casual; wearing chappals, and have my hair tied. However, when I am judging a show, I take care of myself and get the makeup and hair done.

When I make a movie, I don't do any shows because the focus is completely on the film but when I take up a show, it's an absolute relief!

One should be able to take the whole family along to watch a film.

When I meet parents in my children's school, they say there aren't good films for kids to watch. I wonder about the lack of such films too. What do my kids watch?

Shah Rukh is always experimental with his role as an actor. He is the same actor who did a film like 'Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa,' 'Asoka,' 'Chak De! India' and 'Swades' and other so-called commercially successful films.