Bengal has always produced good cinema, be it Satyajit Ray or Ritwik Ghatak.
I have grown up watching Satyajit Ray, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee, Ritwik Ghatak, Raj Kapoor; listening to SD Burman, RD, Kishore Kumar and Salil Chowdhury.
I was lucky to work with some of the finest filmmakers - Guru Dutt, Satyajit Ray, Vijay Anand, Raj Khosla, Asit Sen.
I have earlier played Ritwik Ghatak on screen. It was one of the toughest roles.
It's true I was approached for 'Heroine' but I couldn't do the film as the dates were clashing with Kamaleswar Mukherjee's film 'Meghe Dhaka Tara' based on the life of Ritwik Ghatak, where I played the lead.
I grew up watching Wonder Woman; I grew up watching Batman. I grew up watching George Reeves as Superman.
Bombay is far ahead of Bengal in the matter of female education. I have visited some of the best schools in Bengal and Bombay, and I can say from my own experience that there are a larger number of girls receiving public education in Bombay than in Bengal; but while Bengal has not come up to Bombay as far as regarded extent of education, Bengal is not behind Bombay in the matter of solidarity and depth.
Ray Lewis, I've grown up watching Ray Lewis. Just watching his intensity, his passion for the game, his love for the game, his work ethic. Everything in a linebacker that you want to be is in Ray Lewis, from leadership qualities, all that.
I would have loved to work with Satyajit Ray.
I feel lucky to have worked with Satyajit Ray.
Satyajit Ray has played a very major part in my career. He was the one who gave me the launch platform when he selected me for his 'Apur Sansar.'
I grew up watching my older brother very closely who was a football player and a star in my hometown of Fremont, Ohio. My love of the game started early because of watching him. My neighborhood played a ton of football, pickup games outside in the backyards of the apartments where I grew up.
In Australia, I grew up watching 'The Mickey Mouse Club,' my son grew up watching 'Sesame Street,' my grandson's growing up watching 'Dora The Explorer.' So we are sort of saturated with American culture from the day we're born, and to those of those who do have an ear for it, it's second nature.
My major influence is Satyajit Ray; his film 'Shatranj ke Khilari' was set in Awadh and it gave us memorable characters. Ray's musical scores and soundtracks were an intrinsic part of his films. And music to me is important, too.
I would've done anything to work with Satyajit Ray.
Most of the available Indian films in Australia are Bollywood. I did not watch them. In my early days, I watched Satyajit Ray's 'Apu Trilogy,' which was a beautiful take on social realism.