I'm not into being all 'film-y' and going to the premieres and parties. I tend to feel like the embarrassing uncle at a wedding.

Real life is messy, and drama is a shaped version of real life.

I'm very lucky. I actually like screenwriting. I rarely feel a sense of doom going to my desk.

I just can't get excited about money as a motivation in a film. It leaves me cold.

India is desperately romantic, utterly unashamed of its sentimentality, its generosity, its fierce pride and massive heart.

As a child growing up in a grey-skied Yorkshire village, I would occasionally happen upon a Bollywood movie on the television. After a few minutes watching a bunch of sari-clad dancers cavorting on a Swiss mountain to tuneless music, I would switch over to some proper drama about housing estates and single mothers.