Quotes from Asrani

Bimal Roy never kept comedy out of the story line.

My experience of performing in Gurgaon has been very satisfying.

I was among the first batch of the students to graduate from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune in 1966, but it wasn't my passport to Bollywood. At that time, no one understood that it is possible to learn acting in an institute.

I came to Bombay and got my first big break in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's 'Guddi.'

Comedy is very effortless.

Congress is a party whose both hands are with the common people.

I always fought against vulgarity, double meaning dialogues and wearing la'dies' clothes.

Even great actors have to polish their skills and rejuvenate.

You'd need to polish your skills as you only get one chance. In cinema, retakes are possible but in theatre, there are none.

The other political parties are either in alliances or are formed with the collaborations of one or two different parties, but the Congress is different.

Indoreans are not only welcoming, but very homely.

I got busy with films and found it difficult to devote time to theatre.

It is the same actor in theatre and cinema, just the technique of acting changes.

I think film promotion has become really important in today's time. PM Narendra Modi also felt the need to do campaigning. If he doesn't do that, then nobody will give vote to him.

Directors such as LV Prasad would enact the whole scene for the actors. He used to enact the scenes for Raj Kapoor too during the filming of 'Sharda.' But it was up to you to emulate the director's vision on the screen.

In Bollywood even a dog at times is more popular than us. The bottomline is money and if a dog is making the moolah for the producer/director who cares whether you are an Asrani or someone else.

If you publish Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography, no one will read it but if it's Madhuri Dixit's or Madhubala's autobiography people will come and read it.

The magic in 'Sholay' was purely because of Salim-Javed. I didn't do anything.

Some people just come to a rally to see the stars. But some do take us seriously. They have been watching us on the screen and they know the conviction that goes into our acting.

In a play you can witness your audience live, understand how they feel. It lets you evaluate yourself and measure your growth.

My grooming as an actor took place after working with top directors like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Gulzar, BR Chopra and Shakti Samantha.

Theatre gives you an altogether different kind of thrill which every actor who wants to grow must try.

Jaya Prada was thrown out of TDP by Chandrababu Naidu which is why she came to Samajwadi Party. She knows even less of Rampur than she does of Andhra Pradesh.

Nobody is interested in how many claps and whistles he received for his performance. All they are bothered about is how much money they are getting.