Quotes from Mahesh Manjrekar

I was far away from Marathi literature, theatre, arts, everything. I was a late entrant to it.

Every filmmaker has a family to feed. They have children whose college fees need to be paid.

Harmesh Malhotra's 'Nigahen' is said to be a sequel to his 'Nagina.' But in reality, the characters in the second film did not flow out of the first.

People are not coming into theaters to see movies. Audiences are making up their minds not to see films even before their release. It is a very sorry state of affairs.

I did quite a lot of television episodes with B.P. Singh. He used to stay near me and we would travel together. He had a car and while going back home we would discuss about the stories, the dialogues, etc. Whatever he taught me was more than enough to start a film.

I act because I get money. Half the time I quote an exorbitant amount because I don't want to act. And sometimes it works.

I believe it's so important to love life, enjoy it for its small moments and live without regrets - life is so unpredictable.

Army wives sacrifice a lot, we need to salute them because no matter what, they always put up a brave face.

When my daughter went to school, her last name was mine. The school insisted that her father's name be added to hers, not her mother's. The fact that the mother kept her in her womb for nine months is forgotten. Women don't have an identity. She has her father's name today and will have her husband's tomorrow.

To be an actor, I had to learn Marathi. I used to always grudge why there are so many alphabets in Marathi.

I don't see cinema suffering because of OTT. We should not lose our sleep thinking OTT will finish the future of cinema halls, it won't.

There is always that extra bit of thrill when you try something new, you get into it thinking you have nothing to lose, at the most you will fail.

The industry is in an alarming condition. And we only have ourselves to blame. If one thriller runs, we all run to make thrillers. What about the dozen thrillers that flopped before that? More than the herd mentality it is the ostrich mentality.

In fact, I started my career as a theatre actor, along with Sachin Khedekar, with a musical play called 'Aflatoon,' where I sang quite a bit. So, singing isn't alien to me, but over the years, because of the constant abuse of smoking that I've put my throat through, my voice doesn't sound as good.

Love is love, be it any age. But the problem arises when instead of communicating in person, you are on your phone. Why do you have to send hearts to the person you love? Simply pick up the phone and say 'I love you.'

If I knew what the audience wants to hear I would be the richest guy in the world! There are a lot of people who think they know what the audience wants but are sadly rejected.

I am a little disillusioned with Hindi cinema direction. I can experiment with Marathi. But Marathi doesn't give you a lot of money.

The first HIV movie in India, 'Nidaan,' was done by me which at that time nobody dared to even try.

One night, at 2:30 A. M., I got a call from Salman Khan. And when I answered the call, he asked me if I will host 'Bigg Boss' Marathi. As I was in deep sleep, I don't even know when I said a yes. Also, the next morning, I wasn't sure if it was a dream or reality and eventually I forgot too.

Salman is a man with the most humble heart. I love to be with him.

I have been doing Marathi theatre for the past 15 years. The people there are very hardworking, talented and committed. But the state of Marathi cinema is going from bad to worse.

I am a very close friend of Sanjay Dutt and people still remind us of our film 'Vaastav.'

Nothing can replace cinema halls.

There were reports that my elder daughter Ashwami was in 'Dabangg 3,' but she is a chef, and never wanted to be an actor.