I look for the humanity in people, however big the politics or oppressive the situation may be, whether it's subsumed within a human being or between two human beings. I want to help us hold a mirror to ourselves.
Bollywood actors are so set in what they want, and the way they want it. And why shouldn't they be? But it is not the same in Hollywood, because the love of the audience is not the same.
It's only at this age that I can say the word 'art' without flinching.
I want to question what the outside is and who defines it. I often find those that are considered to be on the outside extremely inspiring.
Americans are not used to being bombed in their beds, but if you come from anywhere outside America, it's not highly unusual.
You know, the sad thing of post-9/11, which was of course horrific, was that the city in which I felt completely at home for two decades, suddenly people like us - brown people - were looked at as the 'Others.'
In our house we say 'adolescence' is a western word. We don't believe in it.
Post 9/11, so much has changed in New York that it does not give you that homely feeling which it did before.
I grew up in a very small town which is remote even by Indian standards. I always dreamed of the world.
It took me three years to learn to dress in the American way, especially in winter. That was just like me. I barely wear socks even now.
They say now in America that final cut doesn't mean anything. As Harvey Weinstein said to some film-maker, 'You can have final cut. I'll open your film in Arkansas.'
Christmas lights may be the loneliest thing for me, especially if you mix them up with reindeers and sleighs. I feel alone. I feel isolated. I feel I do not belong.
I've loved 'Vanity Fair' since I was 16 years old. You know, we're all colonial hangovers in India, steeped in English literature. It is one of these novels that I read under the covers at my convent boarding school in Simla.
My family is almost exactly like the one in 'Monsoon Wedding'. We are very open, fairly liberal, loud people.
We have three generations at home, including my father-in-law. I keep a very low profile, and a lot of things I do are very much with the family in mind. I have actually made films with the family around me.
