When I decided to direct a film, I went through around 200 to 300 scripts. Out of which, 12 subjects were finalized and 'Aata Pata Laapta' emerged as the winner.
My first introduction to African music was by my mother, who bought the 'Pata Pata' album by the great Miriam Makeba when it came out. Now that is an album. What a voice.
In 1990 there were about 300 scripts being written demanding the release of Nelson Mandela. And suddenly we watched Mandela walking out of prison. So those scripts had to be destroyed.
In the last 10 to 12 years when things were not going my way, I was just writing scripts. I have a bank of 10 to 12 scripts for web-series, films and short films.
Films were always a passion for me but it was when I saw 'Salaam Bombay' that I decided that it was film direction that I was interested in. That is when I decided I wanted to direct films.
For me, when I choose a script, I put my heart and soul into it, and that is exactly what I look for in a film. A good film is a good film. And if it's a bad film, irrespective of whether it's made 300 crores or 200 crores or any amount of money, it doesn't matter to me.
I went through my rebellious phase, not in my teenage years, but around age 12. The year I decided I didn't want to do entertainment anymore, I was discovered. And I couldn't back down from that.
I love to jump around, bounce around, and be active, which is one of the other reasons I decided to pursue a career in the kitchen. I work 12-18 hours a day, and most of it is spent doing just that - jumping, bouncing, and baking.
After my film 'The Tale of Two Sisters,' I received a lot of offers from Hollywood to direct, but because 'A Tale of Two Sisters' was a horror film, I received a lot of horror films. But I wasn't interested in working in the same genre, and the scripts I received for films in different genres were for projects that were near completion.
When I emerged as a hero, there were times I had continuous hits in Malayalam. I also tasted success as a supporting actor in other languages. But there was a collective effort from a group in the Malayalam film industry to flush me out, which affected my career.
The Vedas give information on various subjects. They have come together and form one book. And in later times, when other subjects were separated from religion - when astronomy and astrology were taken out of religion - these subjects, being connected with the Vedas and being ancient, were considered very holy.
Because I've always aspired to direct and produce, I've literally worked with about 200 directors and countless producers, so what I appreciate is how, through osmosis and through actually asking questions and through people offering wisdom, there's a lot in there.
We decided around fourth or fifth grade that we were going to go to film school.
I wrote my first song at 12 and remember someone asking, 'What were you going through at 12 that you could write about?' I get what you're saying, but 11, 12, 13 were the hardest years of my life. You learn everything. You learn how horrible things feel.
We had to cope with the media writing things which were not true, which were insulting. At around 13 I decided I was just not going to pay attention.
I saw my potential as artistic director, which is very different from designer. Fashion companies might have $200 million to $300 million in annual sales - Hugo Boss has €2.5 billion. I have to create a world that is believable and also relevant in 7,000 sales points around the world.
To be functionally fluent in a language, for instance, in most cases you need about 1,200 words. To acquire a total of vocabulary words, if you really train someone well they can acquire 200 to 300 words a day, which means that in a week they can acquire the vocabulary necessary to speak a language.