My best friend, who I grew up with in Paris, is Indian. So, I've grown up listening to a lot of Bollywood songs and watching a lot of Bollywood movies, old and new.
Qurbani' happened at a time when all kinds of special films were happening to my career - 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram,' 'Shalimar,' 'Abdullah.'
The first film I watched was 'Soldier,' and then 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' and 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan.'
In Bollywood, people have been making movies for more than half a century and they are made in such a way that you need not shed off all your inhibitions.
I love music, and can dance on the desi beats. Punjabi music is my favourite. I listen to artists like Honey Singh. I love his music. I also love watching Bollywood films.
For people that don't know and haven't seen a Bollywood film, you need to go and see one. They give you everything in one. They give you your comedy, your fear, your horror, your thriller, your rom-com. It's everything in one.
When I was a kid, my grandfather used to watch Bollywood films. There's a lot of colour and vibrancy to the Indian films.
As a child growing up in a grey-skied Yorkshire village, I would occasionally happen upon a Bollywood movie on the television. After a few minutes watching a bunch of sari-clad dancers cavorting on a Swiss mountain to tuneless music, I would switch over to some proper drama about housing estates and single mothers.
I have danced, sung, been a part of a reality show, and the outcome is that I am a part of 'Batla House' and 'Bharat,' which is a milestone.
I started with 'Baaghi,' in which I cast Tiger Shroff. And then with director Imtiaz Ali's entry in our production, I tried totally different films like 'Tamasha,' etc.
I was shooting for a Telugu film at the Taj Mahal in Agra, and there were all these women and children pointing and screaming, 'Rowdy Rathore.' But I am not really 'Rowdy Rathore.' I am the guy who did the original version of 'Rowdy Rathore' six years ago.
It's very important to not repeat yourself. After 'Delhi Belly,' I was offered 40 'Delhi Belly's and you can't do that! So 'Revolver Rani' is dark and gritty with action, 'Sooper Se Oopar' is a big commercial love story, 'Santa Banta' is a 'theth' Punjabi comedy, 'Golu Aur Pappu' is a kids' film and 'Amit Sahni Ki List' is an urban romcom.
We have always looked upon Hollywood superheroes like Super-Man and Spider-man, but Baahubali is our own Indian superhero, and the connection people have made with this franchise is unprecedented.
'Deewar' has been remade so many times, 'Trishul' has been remade so many times. But 'Don' - no one has gone into this area as often as they have gone into these other movies, and I think it fits into the modern sensibility of movie viewing quite well.
I had a couple of releases including Dil Ka Rishta,' Koi Mere Dil Mein Hai,' Madhoshi,' and Julie,' but they were badly released and went unnoticed.
Manmohan Desai's films pack a lot of joy and have a child-like quality and you can see the director is having fun, but my movies don't suspend disbelief that much. But it's good to be compared to Manmohan Desai. He was run down by critics in his time.
I loved 'Highway.' It was amazing. I have watched Imtiaz Ali's other films, too, and he is one of my favourite Bollywood directors, besides Vishal Bhardwaj and Mani Ratnam.
Wanted' and 'Rowdy Rathore', which I directed in Hindi, were remakes of Telugu hits. Telugu films have contributed to my growth in a big way.
I just won't sing and dance in a film. But when you have a chance to star in an Abbas-Mustan film, why will anyone let it go? I have been lucky to do films which have been different from each other.
What Bollywood lacks is scripts. A lot of the films are copies of western films.
I love song and dance films in Bollywood.
I am interested in seeing 'Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota' by Vasan Bala, so I would like to work with him, and I also would like to work with Vikram Aditya Motwani, Abhishek Chaubey, Vishal Bhardwaj, and Kabir Khan.
There would be no 'Sholay' without Dharmendra, no 'Amar Akbar Anthony' without Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor, no 'Deewar' without Shashi Kapoor, and no 'Dostana' without Shatrughan Sinha.
I am definitely interested in doing films in Bollywood. And not only in Hindi - I am open to working anywhere in the country, even if it is Punjabi.
Films with female protagonists don't attract many eyeballs. Most of them are perceived as feminist films. If Bollywood starts giving women major roles in entertaining movies, then the audience, too, will open up to the idea of watching commercial films in which the actresses do more than just play the role of the hero's love interest.
