One day, I got a call from Mani Ratnam sir's assistant, who said that the ace director was impressed after watching 'Naan' trailer and wanted me to do a cameo in 'Kadal.' I was on cloud nine and my joy knew no bounds. However, I had no other option than to say no since the date required by Mani Ratnam was exactly the release date of 'Naan.'
I took up Tamil films because I'm a big fan of Mani Ratnam. I thought maybe he'll notice me if I act in a Tamil film.
As much as I love to do commercial films, a touching romantic film like Mani Ratnam's 'Geethanjali' will satiate my creative appetite.
For me, working on the sets with Mani Ratnam is so familiar. It is the place where I grew up, so I am not nervous here.
I'm part of that generation that grew up watching TV, and being an actor was all about being on TV or being in films.
I had a great time cheering for the team that I grew up idolizing and watching. The best part about the experience was the friendships I made and being part of an organization that is so involved with the community.
I grew up watching films. Film has been part of my life since I was a child.
After watching 'Pagal Nilavu' I decided Mani Ratnam should be my mentor and joined him.
I loved 'Highway.' It was amazing. I have watched Imtiaz Ali's other films, too, and he is one of my favourite Bollywood directors, besides Vishal Bhardwaj and Mani Ratnam.
I was never that kid who grew up in New York and was always at the arthouse watching important films. I was the kid who grew up in the Midwest where there weren't any art films, and I watched TV. And that was really the medium that affected me and that I fell in love with.
I think my mom is the inspiration of me wanting to do film and TV and be an actor because she loved film so much. She loved, like, horror films and action films, so growing up, she loved watching all the Charles Bronson films and all the westerns.
I love Mani Ratnam's movies.
Mani Ratnam is my biggest inspiration.
When I entered the industry, I wanted to work with good directors like Mani Ratnam and Gautam Menon; that's why I did Tamil films. I realised later that I was not adding anything to the Tamil scripts and that it was a waste of time for me.
It is everybody's wish to work with Mani Ratnam.
There is a host of directors - Sujoy Ghosh, Neeraj Pandey, Ashutosh Gowariker, Madhur Bhandarkar, Mani Ratnam and so on - who make some great cinema. I would like to work with them all.