Kamal Haasan

“Since I was 20, I wanted to make a short film and send it to international short film festivals. It never happened. I became too big a star to indulge in those things.”

“If it doesn't reach the last poor man, your constitution is wrong.”

“Politics is too big a game to feel the absence of a Kamal Haasan.”

“All stars are businessmen. Once you decide to become a star, you are talking about money, fame, and being successful.”

“The disgraces I suffer should be attributed to me, but the praises that I get go to my family and teachers. It is they who decided what I would become.”

“You have to appreciate the finer points of your work; criticise, too, if needed. I am also my own worst and most honest critic. I can say things which nobody will ever dare say. Even the best of friends will stop at a point, whereas I can go beyond.”

“Sometimes we equate anger to destructive physical violence, but anger need not be martial.”

“The most feared thing should be death, but after a lot of rumination, I have settled to fear incessant pain. It is not a 'screaming hysterically' kind of fear but a silently lurking one.”

“I audition for almost every role. I get into auditions even when I am just producing a film. Not that someone would fire me, but I keep trying various tests and keep working till I learn the job.”

“When I was 16, I felt I might be left with some effeminacy because of all the dancing. I was so full of classical dance that I wanted to get away and do something else.”

“I am opposed to autobiographies, mainly because most autobiographies lie.”