Quotes from Suhasini Maniratnam

Those who respect the intelligence of the common man have always been masters.

Anant Nag and Vishuvardhan sir are two of the best actors with whom I have worked.

Men directors somehow think it's great to show heroes all unkempt and ungroomed. You'd be able to smell the hero's aftershave lotion if a woman directed him.

I would like to give one message: Live life light with a smile.

My husband won't remake films and won't allow anyone to remake his films. It's like making your child study like your neighbour's child.

I think as film actors we are comfortable on stage because we know what the audience expects. The only tricky part is to remember the lines and that body language is key, which is something we tend to forget after years of acting in front of a camera.

I don't think too seriously about anything, neither does my husband and my son. When we are home, we are constantly laughing over some trivial matters.

'Hasini Pesum Padam' was about reviewing Tamil movies that released every week. I felt it is more of an international platform and hence used trendy trousers and different kinds of tops.

Unless we get out of these mindless comedies and a good-for-nothing fellow trying to win over the heroine kind of films, Tamil cinema will not be taken seriously.

When my son Nandan was in middle school, I had a fun way of doing his maths homework. I bought another set of mathematics books and both of us would sit side by side and start solving problems.

I have been hooked to cinema since childhood. I am like a typical Indian villager who had no other source of entertainment while growing up.

I stopped seeing mainstream films 15 years ago. They are absolutely unbearable.

I am a humble speaker, I speak very well.

For people to understand, you can't speak 'cinema.' Cinema doesn't have alphabets, so you have to go to the local language. Even in England, if they make a movie in London they have to make it in the Cockney accent, they can't make a film with the English spoken in the BBC. So cinema has to be realistic to the area that it is set in.

I don't believe in multitasking. I rather believe in doing one thing at a time.

Yes, my uncle wanted me to be a cinematographer and he was disappointed when I gave up that dream to become an actress.

I was 13 or 14 when I was brought from Paramakudi to Chennai by my uncle Kamal Haasan, and I lived under the care of my uncle and my grandparents.

On the first day of my shoot for 'School Master,' I was feeling a little uneasy because I had to travel a lot. I was feeling a little sleepy too. After the completion of each shot, I would go for a small nap.

We know of instances of stage plays being made into films. But I really think that all Tamil films can be staged; I'd like to take up K. Balachander's films and do that.

There are few teachers from the film industry to guide newcomers. One can see a gap between the film industry and those teaching at film schools.

You need to understand the meaning of the dialogue to be able to convey it right. You need to know it to understand the nuances of the scene.

Every language will have different nuances. But language cannot be the basis for discrimination or exclusion.

Kannada was easy for me to learn because it's casual and easy; no frills, unlike Tamil.

I was born in a part of Tamil Nadu notorious for eliminating the girl child. I was the third daughter born to my parents and I have my mother to thank for deciding that I was not an unwanted child.