Rajiv Menon Quotes

Michigan is two radically different places - the North and the South which makes for good drama and contrast.

In the South they don't mind how close I get, so long as I don't get too big. In the North they don't mind how big I get, so long as I don't get too close.

It is rare for an artist to get acceptance by the north as well as the south audiences, and I have thankfully managed that.

After 9/11, if people made movies about terrorism, the U.S. was evil and Muslims were misunderstood: 'Lions for Lambs,' 'Stop-Loss,' 'Rendition.' Well, all these movies didn't do particularly well. In Hollywood, people scratched their heads, but the reason they didn't do well is because in Middle America, people want to see their values triumph.

I'm always so amazed by which performances work really, really well and which ones don't. But I think it's just mostly, 'She's Out Of My League,' so many people saw that movie on DVD and on the plane. Just millions of people saw that movie. That's the reason I'm somewhat famous.

My previous movie before 'Life Is Beautiful' was the same; they didn't release it so much in United States.

The only reason why I would like to be accepted? Because if your movies don't do well, after a while you don't get to make any more movies.

I discovered that the people of the North are different and there's no way you can make a person from the North similar to a Southerner. They're two different worlds.

I think the success of a film is very important to an actor. It depends on how many people go to watch your movies; the more the merrier. Nobody wants to do a film for five people. You work so hard that millions of people watch the movie; this is directly related to box office success.

The north of Sweden is very socialist and poor. They feel left out and despise Stockholm in many ways because Stockholm has become new liberals and much more Americanized.

There are the countries of the north of Europe taking decisions and the countries of the south of Europe that are living under intervention. This division exists.

Throughout this vast republic from the St. Croix to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, revenue is to be collected and expended; armies are to be marched and supported. The exigencies of the nation may require that the treasure raised in the north should be transported to the South.

At this moment came the direful struggle between the great parties in Congress founded upon the claim which the majority ... from the north of the Potomac made to the right to lay any tax upon the importations into the United States which was intended to act as a protection to northern manufacturers by excluding foreign fabrics of the same kind. Hence all the states to the south of the Potomac became dependent upon the Northern States for a supply of whatever thing they might want, and in this way the South was compelled to sell its products low and buy from the North all articles it needed from twenty-five to one hundred and twenty-five per cent higher than from France to England. .

It is a gross mistake to suppose that ' abolition' is the cause of dissolution between the north and the south. The Cavaliers, Jacobites, and Huguenots of the south naturally hate, contemn, and despise the Puritans who settled the north. The former are master races, the latter a slave race, the descendants of the Saxon serfs

The animosities inflamed by a four years' war, and its distressing incidents, cannot be easily overcome. But they extend beyond the limits of the army, to the people of the north. I have read in southern papers bitter complaints about the unfriendly spirit exhibited by the northern people — complaints not unfrequently flavored with an admixture of vigorous vituperation. But, as far as my experience goes, the "unfriendly spirit" exhibited in the north is all mildness and affection compared with the popular temper which in the south vents itself in a variety of ways and on all possible occasions. No observing northern man can come into contact with the different classes composing southern society without noticing it. He may be received in social circles with great politeness, even with apparent cordiality; but soon he will become aware that, although he may be esteemed as a man, he is detested as a "Yankee

Luckily, 'Rakta Charitra' did well in the South and I started getting a lot offers from the Tamil and Telegu film industry.

The overwhelming love Tamil audiences gave 'Premam' will always remain special.

Every great movie is about the people, even if it's a great popular success like 'Gone With the Wind.' It's really not about the Civil War. It's about Scarlett and Rhett. That's who you go to see. You're not going to root for the North or pull for the South, or, you know, it's the people you remember.

Somehow I feel South Indian actors are not that well known in the Hindi belt. Tamil and Telugu actors have an upper hand. But Kannada and Kerala are totally sidelined by Hindi filmgoers.

I think, in the South, I can do it, especially in the Kannada film industry. I am popular enough to do a woman-centric film there.

I'm not saying I'm not bummed if a movie doesn't do well, but that isn't the final analysis of whether it's any good.

The middle part of the country - the great red zone that voted for Bush - is clearly ready for war. The decadent Left in its enclaves on the coasts is not dead - and may well mount what amounts to a fifth column.

I have never behaved like a star kid, and since a lot of people in the Tamil and Malayalam film industries know my parents, they treat me like their own child.

I have learnt to deal with the box office result. Whatever happened to any film, thankfully, people always appreciated my performance.

I would say 'Jigarthanda' had a lot of Tarantino in it, but it ends there. 'Iraivi' is inspired more from directors like Balu Mahendra, Mahendran, and K. Balachander.