Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Anubhav Sinha

Governments don't like harmony.

Social distancing on a film set is an oxymoron. It can't happen, it won't happen. We can keep lying to ourselves though.

I am, what you call, an audacious man. I could walk into the room of Warren Buffet, and he may not give me the money. But I am positive that we would have a good meeting.

In my profession, people are never scared to be nice. They are in fact apprehensive about being critical.

Till 'Mulk' and 'Article 15,' I used to deny that there is a change. Now I feel there is certainly a change, what kind of change, I don't know. Now I get attracted to different things - story or a performance. Earlier I used to get attracted to grand visuals, size of the film and how big the starcast was. Now I am not attracted to these things.

Bob Dylan's 'Blowin' In the Wind' was written into the script of 'Article 15.' It was the only song I wanted in my film. It encapsulates the spirit of exploration and salvation that my hero Ayushmann Khurrana goes through. I love the song's lyrics, especially 'How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man? '

No, I never felt cornered because I was not a big director's son or a star's son.

I have a beautiful sofa, which is my writing corner, on which I sit every day and look outside the window.

I keep finding good stories so I don't see a reason not to work.

I'll keep venting my anger through my films.

I was always fearless.

After becoming an engineer, I worked for a year in Faridabad. I was so bored. I used to live in a one-room apartment, and every night I would come back to a frog in my bathroom.

In 1981, when I passed out of Class 12, you could either become a doctor or an engineer. If you did not take up Science in Class 12, you were not considered a good student. The Arts were a no-no.

Any piece of art has the potential to emotionally touch you and nudge you.

I'm a workaholic and there is no other engagement in my life.

It is so obvious for the under-privileged to challenge the privileged, saying, 'How can you have something over me?' as opposed to the privileged person saying, 'How can we have something over the rest?' I find the latter more exciting.

As a filmmaker, if your personality is not reflected in your movies, then what are you doing, why are you making films?

I truly believe that women are extremely talented people and with the right opportunities, they perform as well and maybe better than men.

I grew up at Kabir Choura in Varanasi in the 1970s. It was an era when communal riots used to happen every now and then at different places.

In daily life, there are times when people are happy to talk about problems, but when the society is troubled by something, there is never a larger platform for discussion. Bollywood is religion in our country and that is the best place where you can place those questions on the table.

Since my adolescence, divisive politics has bothered me.

I come from Varanasi. Abuses, profanities and threats don't bother me. I am 6-foot-tall guy and I can take care of myself.

We live in a world where corporates are trying to prove that water is a commodity. The economics of this world is inclined towards creating a divide between rich and poor, and religion is the most convenient tool.

'Dus' was different from 'Tum Bin,' and 'Ra.One' from 'Dus,' but the difference didn't pop out as much as 'Mulk.' That was because it was an issue-based film and crossed the line as being a serious, hard-hitting movie.

No movie can change society, but there are things that can be achieved by a film. For example, we are sitting in a room that has a lizard in it but we don't mention it because it is not bothering us. But if I stand up and say there is a lizard in the room, then we will try to deal with it - in whatever way.

There's a big difference between chauvinism and chivalry.

Hindus and Muslims used to be like two neighbors, who had some issues but who also loved each other.

The most dangerous evils of society are the ones we don't speak of.

A lot of problems in the society exist because we don't talk about it.

Nepotism is an overrated debate. It exists everywhere and I have been telling this from the day one.

The people I met for the first time in the period when I was making films like 'Tum Bin,' 'Ra.One,' 'Dus,' 'Cash' would often remark that I was very unlike the person who had made those films. This is not the best thing for a film-maker to hear because your film should reflect your personality, thinking, philosophy and character.

It may not be the best marketing thing to do but I don't like talking about my film until I have finished it.

My father would get up with his plate after dinner and keep it where it was supposed to be kept. He wouldn't leave the plate for my mom to pick up.

Western audiences are way more forgiving for the image of a star.

I think I was always this person. If you see my early work, my first TV show called 'Shikast' and a lot of 'Sea Hawks.' I think I was dealing with a misplaced definition of success.

I don't think I have tried to give any message through 'Mulk.' But I have put certain things on the table which are usually discussed in the living rooms, not in our cinema.

In Delhi, I got a chance to assist someone on a documentary film. Then I moved to Mumbai. This was before the satellite TV. One had to assist a director for years before being able to direct a movie.

After 'Mulk,' I figured it's your voice that people are connecting with. So then my voice became of prime importance to me for my films.

I had never seen an ocean before I came to Mumbai, something that now we take for granted. But the first time I stood in front of the ocean, it affected me for a week. I had never seen something as enormous. It consumed me completely.

I have made my mistakes and learnt from those.

'Mulk' is a story of a Muslim family whose one member turns out to be a terrorist. How that family gets cornered and persecuted after that in our society is what it is all about. I have tried to deal with some of the burning issues of our times.

Just because 'Mulk' addresses some uncomfortable truths, trolls are having a field day. They say that the film has been funded by Dawood because that's the easiest way to malign it. But I am not affected by such nonsense.

Although everything has a political connotation today, 'Mulk' is a social film, to be honest. It is not about any political leader, party or ideology.

I am from a very vague caste. I don't belong to any of the four. I am kayastha. They are well read, largely clerks so they get treated respectfully.

I am afraid of things which scare me. I am afraid of heights and too much love.

I come from a small town, so there we have this habit of talking to rickshawallahs while you are making a trip. So when I moved to Bombay, people found it strange that I do that.

I keep saying that I am made of two cities and all my friends. You learn different things from different people.

I know that I don't have a problem with women knowing more or learning more or performing better or making more money.

I feel 'Tum Bin' is a franchise where fresh actors are appreciated.

As a filmmaker I have changed, yes. I seem to have crossed a line and that journey, trajectory change is more apparent. I'd say, what changed dramatically in me as a filmmaker is the fact that now, it is about why am I making the film, what is this supposed to mean to people. Earlier, it was more about entertaining or engaging them.

Generally, drama films are made with stars - I broke the rule unknowingly.

After 'Ra.One,' 'Cash,' 'Tum Bin 2' did not work, I almost lost my confidence as a director.

The first thing that bothers me after any celebrity death happens is that my phone starts buzzing for a bite.

When I hear of nationalism in my country today from the youngsters, I want to sit them down and tell them that flags and songs are not nationalism. Stopping at the traffic signal, opening the door for a lady, doing something for your country is nationalism.

I aspired to make 'Tum Bin II' better than my first film, if not as good as 'Tum Bin.'

'Article 15' prohibits any kind of discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, or religion. My film is about the discrimination we practice on various levels.

I have been a fearless man. I have been a ridiculous man. I finished my engineering and got a job. And then one day, I just quit it. I didn't know what I would do, but I didn't want to be an engineer anymore.

When my second film 'Dus' released, I was still getting compliments for 'Tum Bin' because it was a hit on satellite channels.

When you make the biggest film in the history of Bollywood, 'Ra.One,' and get so much flak, it drains you... haunts you for years.

After the #MeToo movement, I told my team to hire as many women as possible. So there are always a lot of women in my team. I talk to them and they read the script and come up with their own suggestions.