Kabir Khan

The way you treat the women characters in your film, it gives away your feelings about that topic - whether you treat them frivolously or not.

Let's not forget Oscars is an award ceremony for the U.S. film industry which has one category amongst the various categories called best foreign film.

I think we are unnecessarily obsessed by Oscars.

I was shooting in Afghanistan in 2001, post 9/11. America was shelling the country and all the normal ways to enter the country were closed. So, we bribed the pilot of a Russian military helicopter who was flying medical help to Kabul, but 40 minutes into the ride, he asked us to jump off.

There is no audience for documentary films in India.

What is the point of telling stories if they don't reach people? As a filmmaker, you want a certain interaction with the audience.

The main idea of making a movie is to provide entertainment. But as a director, I also say what I want to say with my movie. If a person can access the subtext, great! But on face value, the movie should hit the mark with its audience.

We really enjoyed making 'Bajrangi' and the people appreciated it and gave it a kind of love which was unprecedented. But I don't think that can become the benchmark for us. You'll always be under pressure if you compare any new film that you make with the one that did so spectacularly well.

Shah Rukh is someone I've always looked up to as a senior. He is also probably the most well read person in the industry.

Earlier, there used to be a taboo and people would say, 'Oh, don't put politics in your films; the audience don't watch it.' But if you engage them through your characters, they are ready to follow any politics or the world you've created.

For so long, we have believed that commercial cinema is nonsensical, but 'Bajrangi' was not nonsense.

Honestly, one doesn't expect any awards, let alone a National Award.

Post 'Ek Tha Tiger,' which was a more mainstream, action film, I spent a lot of time with Salman and I realised that he has a very strong commitment and believes strongly about certain issue and one of them is secularism in India.

Americans view film from their perspective like all of us do and our perspective don't necessarily need to match.

Everything is politics. And everyone has an ideology. Without one, we are animals.

I think authenticity is something you cannot compromise on. You always have to be authentic.

History always repeats itself.

History always remains relevant.

I take the politics of my films very seriously.

Every film of mine is put against 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' and it is unfair.

I am extremely proud of 'Tubelight.'

We can't expect every film to do the business like 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan.'

You make a film with a lot of love and conviction and if it doesn't do well the way it was expected to do, it's disheartening.

When I see the work of other directors, I feel inspired.

Some films may work sometimes and sometimes some films don't.

When I was writing 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan,' I knew the perfect Bajrangi Bhaijaan would be Salman.

My attempt always is to make a film which you can enjoy without necessarily going into the politics of the film.

Mani Ratnam was a favourite filmmaker because he did mainstream storytelling but always had a very real context or political backdrop.

I think the audience is open heartedly accepting which is new, refreshing.

As a storyteller, I am always looking for magnificent human stories.

We definitely need to give so much more importance, relevance, pay, glory to the writers because they are really the backbone of what we are creating.

One of the biggest drawbacks of our industry is that we haven't nurtured our writers for years. Now, we realise we need to but we can't nurture our writers overnight.

You know, '83' is a big responsibility for me. I knew if I don't recreate this correctly, the country will not forgive me.

Stories choose directors, I guess.

Salman has an inherent larger than life quality to him. 'Ek Tha Tiger' compliments that with the kind of scale and spread that would fascinate audiences worldwide.

I strongly feel that James Bond can't work in our country.

There is no ego whatsoever in Salman.

When you have actors like Salman, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Kareena Kapoor Khan, you life as a director is easier because they are such brilliant actors, there is a certain energy they bring onscreen.

One of the greatest drawbacks of our industry is that we don't take back anything from our contemporary history or our past.

Unlike most of the films made in Bollywood, 'New York' has a backdrop and some story to it. It's not based in void.

What makes 'Phantom' different from other mission based films, is the amount of emotional drama there is in this film. And not just the main characters. Even the smaller characters have an emotional journey unto themselves and that forms major part of the narative.

It is certainly not possible that a whole country is responsible for something as hateful as terrorism.

As opposed to 'Ek Tha Tiger,' which was a glamourised peek into the world of intelligence agents, Phantom is more real. It does not have the usual trappings of 'spies.' This is more about the people involved.

Things become easier and people show more confidence in you with bigger, larger projects. A good successful film always does that.

You don't need to agree with everything that everybody says but screaming, shouting and getting abusive is ridiculous.

Anybody who says going to war is great, I think, is acting stupid.

Nobody wants to go to war.

Most of my films have revolved around international politics. So the locations you have seen so far in 'Ek Tha Tiger' and 'Kabul Express' were organic to the film's narrative.

I don't consciously aim at shooting movies in different locations but if my films feature never-seen-before locations, then why not.

As long as a movie churns its own profit for their own budget it should be fine.