Quotes from Kay Kay Menon

I returned to Pune in the 90s to do my MBA from the University of Pune as in that period there were not many MBA institutes in the city!

If you don't have integrity, don't be in cinema.

I've worked with a lot of people who have a lot of integrity towards cinema.

Let's not betray cinema with marketing inside the film. If it's done outside, then it's ok. That is essential to integrity.

I don't have the expertise in that department, I seriously lack the skill to market myself.

When I see good films not doing well, irrespective of my role being appreciated or not, I have a problem because then the producer who has made a loss will never believe in investing in good cinema.

I believe in cinema! Unfortunately, 90 per cent of Hindi cinema is non-cinema. Only marketing works here. Even the item songs in these films are an extension of marketing.

People often accuse me of being serious. Have I played serious roles in 'Honeymoon Travels' and 'Sankat City?' It is just that after the films were made, producers did not have money to bombard it all over the place.

I thought running around trees is a gardener's job and not an actor's. However, if the script demands that I run around trees, well, you never know.

I am not really attached to my films and work. The film industry is just a small part of my life.

The city helped open my mind creatively and culturally. Pune has the power to make you realise your dream.

You have to be truthful and believable in whatever you do and that is the founding principle of acting.

I had these false ambitions - marketing and MBA. I didn't do very badly at it, but I realised my calling was something else.

I can't look at the mirror beyond two minutes. I don't know what to look at. What is the point of looking at yourself? You can't change your face.

I believe religion is a branch of spirituality, often misinterpreted and twisted to suit people's ideas. In truth, religion and spirituality are meant to co-exist happily.

You have got to dig deep into your own spectrum while playing a character. If I am playing evil, believe me, I am bringing out the evil from within me.

In real life, I don't cry too easily. I go numb.

For me, making time for God is like making time to fill my stomach - like the physical space in the stomach needs food, spiritual space in one's soul needs regular prayer.

I feel the dams of emotions open up more easily when one is acting.

I keep an open mind when a script is narrated to me.

I don't understand when people say character actors. You either have the protagonist or the antagonist and I've played both. It's an actor's role to play a character. Does that mean that main stream heroes and heroines are characterless?

I don't play roles, I play characters. There is a vast difference between the two.

I can't really iterate what I look for in a script. It's a very subjective thing. Like an organic attachment you have with the script and characters.

Every film is made for a commercial purpose - to earn money at the box-office.