Generally, we tend to believe that royalty is only for mainstream Hindi commercial cinema music and maybe some popular ghazal singer or pop singer but we never think that classical music is played at so many places.
I grew up on the commercial film format. I have grown up all my life watching films and they have all been mainstream commercial cinema.
Mainstream Bengali cinema unashamedly tries to copy Bollywood. They forget that they don't have the kind of budgets that Hindi filmmakers have.
I am hard put to think of a single positive thing that commercial Hindi cinema has achieved.
As an actor, I am only excited about doing good work - be it in mainstream Hindi cinema, Hollywood, a French film, or a Marathi movie.
Hindi commercial cinema has denigrated women. We owe a debt of ingratitude to Bollywood for having insidiously polluted our culture covertly.
There is nothing wrong with commercial cinema if it is made well. In fact, if you ask me, the Hindi film industry has also produced some truly outstanding works over the years.
I am the last person who has any judgement about any kind of cinema, least of all commercial cinema because I am a product of commercial cinema.
I haven't got the kind of films from mainstream cinema which I would have wanted. But then mainstream cinema has a different bunch of people who are happy working with each other, which is fine.
I like mainstream cinema. I like films that are definitely commercial. I try and stick to that as much as possible.
Bachchan is the luckiest man on earth. No one knows the nuance of the Hindi language or can incorporate elements from stage on to the Hindi cinema the way he does.
I remember breaking the news to both my parents that I wanted to be a director, and they both looked very doubtful. They didn't know what a closet Hindi film buff I was. I used to dance to old Hindi films songs on the sly, so my decision to be a part of Hindi cinema was shocking even for my parents.
I believe in cinema! Unfortunately, 90 per cent of Hindi cinema is non-cinema. Only marketing works here. Even the item songs in these films are an extension of marketing.
It's just odd that something as essential in life as sex has been flattened out in mainstream cinema - and in art cinema. Even in art movies, sex always seems to be treated negatively. Why does it always end in disaster?
Basically, I have always wanted to have an art-house cinema. A cinema where we can show films that are not necessarily the current offerings on circuit and films that are not commercial.
I am very much a product of commercial cinema in Tollywood, and people ask me why I don't do masala films in Hindi. I am very eager to do them, but somehow I am perceived as a serious actress here.