Quotes from Jay Chandrasekhar

The reality of show business - and I suppose a lot of businesses, but specifically show business - is that it is this business of 'no's.' It's mostly 'no's.'

We write and write and write until we think, 'If we have to shoot this script, we'll be happy, and it's going to be a great movie.' I meet with all the actors two weeks before, and I ask them, 'What lines don't work? What is uncomfortable for you? What jokes do you think aren't good? If you're not getting it, here's what the joke is.' You fix it.

We can't make movies without scripts, and there's no cost to writing a script, so my advice to newcomers is do it yourself: Write your own script, shoot your shorts, edit your shorts.

The funny thing about any cop uniform is that people will do what you say when you're wearing a cop uniform.

In the summer of 2000, four college friends and I grew mustaches, bought highway patrol uniforms, and shot a $1.2 million budgeted independent film called 'Super Troopers.'

There has been a stigma around letting movies be seen on home screens on the same day as theatrical screens. Universal said they were going to do it with 'Tower Heist,' but they backed off when challenged by the theater owners. I understand where the theater owners are coming from on big studio movies.

I did a lot of standup from ages 19 to 24 but then stopped to focus on sketch with Broken Lizard.

Occasionally, we would shoot something and think, 'This is it; we are over the line.' But the test audiences didn't have a problem with it.

This career is a relentless hustle because Hollywood is crowded with too many smart, talented people pursuing the same dream and the same pool of entertainment investment dollars. And unlike in law or medicine, there are no college degrees required - no barriers to entry.

History is ultimately storytelling. I think the more stories you write in life - and I've written a lot of screenplays, a lot of short stories - you realize it's your interpretation of events that people read, and they absorb that.

I started standup at age nineteen. I decided that the only way I was going to try show business as a career was if I could make total strangers laugh.

If I had to be in the Olympics, I suppose I would do the javelin throw.

I would never be comfortable with an edited name. I have never hidden the fact that I am of Indian origin.

The film you know as 'Super Troopers' is a film that almost didn't happen. The script was originally commissioned and developed by Miramax, but when it failed to get a green light, Harvey Weinstein was kind enough to give it back to us so we could make it elsewhere.

To me, I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and my identity is of a suburban Chicago person. It's not like, 'Oh, I'm Indian.' I'm not. I'm American.

The thing about people from Chicago and the Northwest suburbs is that they're very cocky. I think that serves us well in the show business world.

Violence is totally accepted in this country.

What I do when I act and direct is I do a small version, go a little bigger, do a medium one, an over-the-top one, and then even bigger than that. I'll do six readings of the line. And they're not all the same. Just so I know if I was wrong about what I should have done, I luckily have this more subtle version.

My father and mother were both doctors, yes.

I have used the name Jambulingam while editing films such as 'Super Troopers' and 'Puddle Cruiser.' I like the look and sound of it.

I have always felt a comedy's story is undercut if you have a villain who is not really menacing.

I am convinced that tough villains help make a comedy sparkle because they provide a contrast to the funny guys.