When Pakistan was carved out of India's rib in 1947, it was assumed by some that Bollywood's Muslim stars would defect to the new state and thus boost the Lahore film industry. But Lollywood did not happen.
After India's victory in the war he was asked what would have happened if he had opted to be with the Pakistan Army at the time of partition in 1947, he quipped, then I guess Pakistan would have won.
Pakistan is alarmed by the rising Indian influence in Afghanistan, and fears that an Afghanistan cleansed of the Taliban would be an Indian client state, thus sandwiching Pakistan between two hostile countries. The paranoia of Pakistan about India's supposed dark machinations should never be underestimated.
Some would ask which country am I from? We are supposed to tell the truth, [so] we tell them India. Some thought it was Indiana, not India! Some did not know where India is. I said it is the country next to Pakistan.
Mumbai was magical, which I was really surprised by, and I got an insight into the world of Bollywood while hanging out with some Bollywood film stars while there.
Bollywood is there; the film industry is thriving, and it's huge, and it's everywhere. Anytime I travel abroad and I say I'm an actor from India, they're like, 'Oh, Bollywood!' And I say, 'Umm, not yet!'
The real concern is that Iran would do what Pakistan did. Pakistan wanted nuclear weapons, like Iran, purely for defensive reasons - to defend itself against India. The problem was that once Pakistan acquired the weapons, it allowed the country to be more aggressive. So they stepped up their support for the Kashmiri terrorists, and it led very quickly to the Kargil crisis in 2000, which almost sparked a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
If I have to choose between a Bollywood film and Pakistan film, it may sound cliched, but I will go with the script first. And if both the scripts are equally good, then I will choose a Pakistan film.
In Bollywood, you have to do one film at a time, and there are no mixed schedules. And doing four films at a time is out of the question. Telugu film industry works very differently. But the kind of films I'm getting here are better than what I've been offered in Bollywood.
I did the Kannada film when just out of school. I didn't know anything about the South Indian film industry at that time, and I did the film to earn some pocket money. I realised then I like acting.
India should not have any ties with Pakistan, be it Bollywood or cricket. I am shocked that Bollywood is saying that cricket and movies should be kept ahead of national sentiments.
I wouldn't want to do a Bollywood film per se, but I would like to do an Indian-language film. For some reason I think Bollywood has become synonymous with commercial cinema, which is song and dance and everything that is larger than life, and I am interested in the reality.
Be it India-Pakistan or any other country, playing for India is a matter of pride. But India-Pakistan is something everyone is excited about.
I think every industry is a male-dominated industry. Whether it is Tollywood or Bollywood or India as a whole, it is male-dominated. We stay in India, and it has been patriarchal society.
Kollywood allots big budget only for commercial films. Bollywood film industry is straightforward that way. When compared to Bollywood, Kollywood is fake. They keep churning out the same films.
I would be stupid to say no to Bollywood. It is the biggest film industry in our country.
It was inconceivable to me as a child that I would be an adult. I mean, one assumed that it would happen, but obviously it didn't happen, or if it did, it happened when your back was turned, and then suddenly you were there. So I couldn't have thought about it much.