'Viceroy' is the first British film about the Raj and the transfer of power from Britain to India made by a British Indian director. It is a British film made from an Indian perspective.
One year, I went to Cannes with the film 'The Indian Runner' that Sean Penn directed. Everyone else in the film was all the same height, and on the red carpet, when they were taking photos, none of them would stand next to me, and I totally got it.
I didn't plan to make 'Mulk' or 'Article 15.' Nor did I anticipate that 'Mulk' would be seen as a new beginning in my career. It's just that these were stories that had to be told.
This is one of the factors that also made me very much want to make this film, apart from the fact that I loved it. If the boy hadn't been Jewish and the man hadn't been Muslim, it wouldn't have made any difference to the film. I don't think it's relevant, really.
I certainly have been guilty of trying to sweep things under the carpet.
'Newton' is a very Indian film. I think, after a long time, people will see an Indian film in its true form. As in the story, the character, it is set in the heartland of India, but it's purely like how there was a time when Hrishikesh Mukherjee used to make sweet Indian films.
Films like 'Satya,' 'Company' needed a pan-Indian audience. The affinity for Hindi film and subjects was there.
'Gandhi' was a well-made film but surely not my best. It had flaws, which I understand two-and-a-half decades after I directed it. I will never call it a propaganda film for the Indian Congress, but it could have been made better had I concentrated on certain minute details.
Britain's way of dealing with disability is just to try and pretend it's not happening. A swift sweep under the carpet.
The most beautiful carpet is the carpet made of autumn leaves!
Yes, TV is the dominant medium in Pakistan, but it was a conscious decision to have an Indian film as my first release. Being launched in an Indian film with a great script, character, and music is half the battle won. The rest is destiny.
A vital film that needed to be made at this point in history and has been made magnificently.
'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.
So just look into your acts, into your thoughts, into your feelings: you will find the armor everywhere. Wherever you see fear, you have created it. It was needed at one time - now it is no longer needed. A simple understanding that it is no longer needed... now it is a barrier, a hindrance, a burden. If you find something truthful, it will have its own validity. But in the armor you will not find anything that has any connection with truth. The whole armor is made of fear - layers and layers of fear.
Be proud that thou art an Indian, and proudly proclaim, "I am an Indian, every Indian is my brother." Say, "The ignorant Indian, the poor and destitute Indian, the Brahmin Indian, the Pariah Indian, is my brother."
You can dribble on carpet. I grew up in Queens, and we had carpet in our living room. And actually, even in some of these gymnasiums where we're playing the game, we're on carpet. If you're 12 or 13 years old, you've dribbled on the carpet in your mom's house.