Rajkumar Hirani

“No one sets out to write escapism as a film's subject matter unless, maybe, you are making a fantasy flick.”

“Writers should be respected.”

“For me, cinema is happiness.”

“I'm absolutely open to scripts written by someone else.”

“It is impossible to know what people will like. No market research, formulas will help, it's best to stop guessing.”

“Vidhu Vinod Chopra is the only man I see around who makes films because he thinks 'this is a story that needs to be told, so let's tell it.'”

“An editor does not just join shots. He creates emotions out of the shots.”

“Film-makers are greedy people - we want good stories and good subjects.”

“I like playing with languages and dialects as we have so many in India. Adding a dialect just makes the dialogues more colorful.”

“My natural bend is to get attracted towards things that have been an influence in my life.”

“When you focus on your own work, it all falls in place. People respect you.”

“When you make a film you make a film. You don't think about how it will be marketed.”

“Assuming audiences to be dumb, that's a big fallacy.”

“I have been in advertising and I know my craft well, but ultimately in cinema every scene has to matter, and that has to do with the writing.”

“I like human-interest movies that are light-hearted.”

“When I make a film, the yardstick is my mind. If I laugh at the jokes and feel sad at the serious undersides, then the subject works.”

“I feel the primary job of cinema is to entertain.”

“To preach is very boring, and nobody wants free advice. But if it's entertainment, then this changes. If you explain something to a kid through an interesting story, he'll be hooked.”

“Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who has produced my earlier films, is still a part of 'PK' and is presenting it. He is not a hands-on producer - he used to put a certain amount in the bank and give me the cheque book.”

“PK' is a very unique story. There are no benchmarks in Hindi cinema to give you an idea about 'PK.'”