I was getting gig offers from neighbouring countries, but no one knew me in India. Just when I was about to accept an offer, one of my videos went viral in India.
My videos went viral in Pakistan and Bangladesh, but, funnily enough, not in India. India took a lot of time to warm up to my videos!
If you write a lovely story about India, you're criticized for selling an exotic version of India. And if you write critically about India, you're seen as portraying it in a negative light - it also seems to be a popular way to present India, sort of mangoes and beggars.
We need efforts to integrate the nation, not divide it. The 2014 elections is about voting for India. It is to decide what kind of India we want to create. So Vote for India. Neither for a person, nor for a party, let us Vote for India.
For me, representing India, as much as I can give, I need reciprocal things to be given to me. If I am willing to offer tariff concessions on goods, I want something to be offered by them to boost India's services.
I returned to India because I believe in an India of honesty and hard work, not of corruption and crookedness. I believe in an India of openness and straightforwardness, not of hypocrisy and double-dealing. I believe in an India where opportunities are available to all, and not just to a chosen few.
India has the purity, the innocence. India knows what it wants. There is a direction. It has so much to offer.
India shaped my mind, anchored my identity, influenced my beliefs, and made me who I am. ... India matters to me and I would like to matter to India.
Today the world has to accept what India has been saying about terrorism. India's dialogue on terrorism, the losses India has suffered due to terrorism, the losses suffered by humanity, the world is now acknowledging that.
The way the Pak government treated me is only testimony to the ill treatment meted out to artistes. There was outrage against me. People were amazed that I had applied for citizenship in India. I don't give a damn about getting trolled. I have earned immense respect and love in India.
Mahatma Gandhi went from Africa to India, and once India won its freedom, it helped African countries to get their independence.
India has two million gods, and worships them all. In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire.
There is not much awareness about fitness in India, unlike other countries. We don't get too many medals at Olympics; one of the reasons is we don't have that culture of fitness in India. That is why we decided to start this chain of gyms under my name.
'Kalyug' and 'A Passage to India' did get me a lot of recognition and acclamation. But for some reason I stopped getting offers from Bollywood after that.
India is a good example of a country that has embarked into wind and solar energy production and creating jobs in it. Other countries can learn from India's experience.
India is more than a sum of its contradictions, any truism about India can be contradicted with another truism. There is no fixed stereotype. But even thinking about India makes clear the immensity of the nation-building challenge.
Be it India-Pakistan or any other country, playing for India is a matter of pride. But India-Pakistan is something everyone is excited about.