Irrfan Khan

“I cannot live anywhere else except India.”

“Maybe to become famous is to reassure yourself that whatever you're lacking inside, you've fulfilled that.”

“For me, acting is becoming naked in front of people, you know? And when you know in the back of your mind somebody is testing you, you cannot really bare yourself. That's a feeling I always have when I'm auditioning.”

“I am not ready to fit into the mould of commercial cinema.”

“Parsi theater was known for melodrama.”

“I've realized that my... let me call it 'destiny' or some force that has pushed me to identify looking for your comfort zone as a kind of limitation. And everybody has a tendency to fall into the comfort zone. I did that in the early stage of my career.”

“Cinema is changing every week, and multiplex audiences are demanding every week.”

“I am lucky that the Western world chooses me to play roles in their movies an television, whatever language it may be.”

“Our Bollywood stars who talk of being part of 100 crore films, I think I belong to the 1,000 crore club.”

“I've played many characters that have consumed me and owned me.”

“I'm trying to strike a balance between Bollywood and Hollywood.”

“I can't think of a more pathetic situation for an actor than to do a film and not connect to it. And I pray to God that I never face that situation.”

“A nation needs to know how to utilise talent.”

“You cannot reduce the power of story with the tag of money because it's not a share market. So you must know the seriousness of the power of storytelling.”

“I want to entertain people, but with some substance.”

“A film engages you emotionally and intellectually.”

“In India, therapy is not part of the culture; it has not become such a big need.”

“Sometimes when you're playing a very intense character, a disturbed character, you find other layers. That's much more interesting to me, rather than just playing 'intense.' I find it too boring.”

“I was going through a crisis once, so I went to therapy because I was so unbearable for myself.”

“I will only do a Hollywood film when there is something special offered to me.”