As an actor, one should be aware of all their capabilities. This is important, as films are becoming more realistic.
A person who actually knows how to wear clothes...they would look good in any clothes. You see this especially at the Academy Awards. Even if the dresses are beautiful and expensive and important, the actresses can't always carry them. Sometimes I feel like saying to them, "Act! You know how to act, you're an actor. You're about to win an award for, I don't know, convincingly playing that Venezuelan nun who went to war. Now act like you can wear this dress.".
I am probably the only actor who came from television serials to films and was able to work in films this long. Of the 75-odd films I've done, in around 40 of them, I've been the hero.
I act, produce, and direct. They are three different jobs all within the same realm of creativity. I enjoy all of them equally, but ultimately, I'm an actor.
When I was seven, I said, "I want to act." When I was 10, I realized that films exist, and I wanted to be in them. Not a comedian, I wanted to be a dramatic actor. Films just seemed such fun, and like such a great thing to do.
From a personal perspective, I am so looking forward to my new role as a parent. But I am equally focused on my job and responsibilities as prime minister.
I actually cut my sentences a lot. I'm very aware of the actor, giving them too many words - just a mouthful of words - it's difficult sometimes for an actor. So I'm kind of aware of breaking sometimes the line, the sentence with a comma where maybe there wouldn't be a comma there. Just to give a breathing space for the actor, just to be aware of that.
It's really a great luxury to have, to be able to go from big films to indie films, too. Because I'm on the job learning as an actor, and independent films is where I'm learning to act.
I don't speak out because I am an actor nor will I keep silent because I am an actor. I respect my profession, but it endows me with no special privileges; but it also does not limit me or muzzle me. I am a person and a citizen with the attendant responsibilities of voice and vote.
TV and films are same for me. I took a decision to be an actor, and I am an actor. I never decided to be TV actor or film actor.
The characters in my novels are my own unrealised possibilities. That is why I am equally fond of them all and equally horrified by them. Each one has crossed a border that I myself have circumvented.
I'm very camera shy, but I realise it's important to promote films.
I studied cinema at the university so I had a very classical approach to it. I studied all those silent films, and then the films from the 1940's, the Nouvelle Vague, the late Hollywood films. Now I realize, as a young actor, that it's one of my duties to actually be aware of what is today's industry and today's next big directors.
I am aware of my own position and my responsibilities to youngsters watching us. You are a role model.
We are working on organising classical music festivals in a bid to promote qawwali there and produce films that promote music. Perhaps people lack the talent as yet, but at least there's a stable platform available to promote this as an art form.
No foundation that I am aware of has hired ex-journalists to promote a thoroughgoing inquiry.