Impactful Films Quotes

When I hear people watched my film and then got on their own bikes and rode, whether a few miles or across America, to achieve their own goals - that excites me. It's the power of a story.

In 2008, I just decided that there will come a time when I am dead and gone, and I only have a body of work to show. That was when I did films like 'Last Lear' and Deepa Mehta's 'Heaven On Earth.' They were serious roles.

'Fruitvale' set the bar for what I wanted to do with my career, which was to make films that had consciousness and messaging in an entertaining package. Once I hit that mark, I never wanted to go back.

I think films have to reach people and really grab them. That's what I hope to do when I make a film - to get under your skin and really make you think about something, and have a transporting time that takes you somewhere.

Our films tremendously influence people. But at the same time, no one goes to the cinema to listen to lectures, so if you have an interesting story, and if you can showcase it as a film, and its messages are good, then it's like an icing on the cake: it shall be a superhit. And if I get those kind of films, I'll definitely want to work on it.

As an artist, I am here to get involved in meaningful films. But that does not mean only films like 'Arabikkadha' should be made. If you give an overdose of such films, the subject will become jaded.

Strategically, horror films are a good way to start your career. You can get a lot of impact with very little.

If you remain open to great directors who look like you, who know what they're doing and are making impactful films that are destroying these 'blockbuster films,' you can do okay, and everybody can get more of a piece of the pie. But you've got to be open and brave.

'Pulp Fiction' was probably one of the first films I ever saw that really kind of took effect on me. I was about four years old - obviously wasn't supposed to be seeing that film; my sister kind of sneaked it out and we got to see it. She's older than me. That was something I always used to watch.

The impact that you can leave on the other person through your films holds way more weight than just being seen at a party or any other appearance, or being seen at a freaking airport.

I made a commitment to myself: that I wanted to be an actress, and I wanted to do films that make a difference. Whether it makes someone laugh, or it has a moral to the story - it doesn't have to be an ethical film, but it has to move people. If it doesn't excite me, it's not worth doing - it's better to work on myself and my own life and wait until another great thing comes along.

My favorite films are the ones that I walk away from and I know I saw a story.

When you boil it down, most movies are message movies. And I think careers are made in message movies.

I love doing movies that touch people's lives.

I want to have some effect on the way the world works in whatever way I can, and I also want to have the power to help get the movies that I think are important made.

I want to be associated with films that are content-oriented.

We're like the raw food movement in cinema - so determined to give people things that do some good, that they recognize as real.

I love Leonardo DiCaprio. He just makes really great films with great directors. He has great relationships with directors but also has a great social awareness. I think he balances his work with his responsibilities to his world, the environment, things like that very well. I'm very impressed by him and I admire him a lot. And other actors like Joaquin Phoenix, I just look at him and marvel at his unexpectedness, just his work really.

I find it remarkable. It's surreal for me that I've gotten to work with so many people who are not only great filmmakers but whose films have had such a direct effect on me.

I have always taken up films that I like. And in the process if I have done films which bring out something that could do society good, I think it's great.

I want to make the movies that move people in a way they've never been moved before.

I like films that rest in the memory, so I try and choose parts which have some kind of social or emotional force.