Quotes from Victor Banerjee

I am a card holder of Uttarakhand. I fought for their freedom.

The worst thing is that filmmaking is an expensive medium and money corrupts cinema right at the beginning.

I carry too much baggage... the baggage of David Lean, Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal.

The Himalayas make you insignificant. When you are trekking in the mountains of the Himalayas and finally you reach the top exhausted and completely wiped out; you look down and you see nothing. For hundreds of miles you see just hills, mountains and mist; when you look up from your sleeping bag at night you can see just stars.

While representing violence on screen, some directors tend to gloss over it while others glamorize it.

Hollywood represents a great deal of security for my family, and that is what I've come in search of.

I am drawn more towards Russian films owing to their compelling camera work, because of my own inclination towards cinematography.

I grew up in the North-East so identifying with mountain people - their simplicity and honesty - comes naturally to me. I even call myself an honorary Garhwali.

Tamilians, I believe, are the most intelligent people.

An actor must have the sincerity to what he is doing. So you can't take things lightly, you have to be serious every time.

With age you tend to become intolerant and it becomes difficult to give your best in trying circumstances.

I am delighted that young filmmakers want me in their films. They have open minds and a fresh take on old attitudes. I derive a lot of energy from them. Most of all, I find their love and respect utterly disarming.

Whenever I go to deliver lectures in IAS academies, colleges and schools, I always try to bring in the northeast. It may be the bamboo of Mizoram or the various beautiful tribal cultures of Misings or Bodos.

When Western filmmakers look for an Indian they want him to play a snake charmer, a chauffeur or a peanut vendor.

I have to keep the kitchen running, so I can't stop acting in commercial films.

When I was a young man, it was very fashionable not to have the sacred thread ceremony, and among very respectable families, mind you. As a rebel, I decided to do it.

Democracy in a socialist country is freedom in chains.

To this day my father cringes when he has to tell friends, 'My son's a movie actor.'

I've reached a stage and an age in my career where I need to do work that keeps me economically and emotionally comfortable. And for that I need to get into spaces that don't require me to make too many compromises with my beliefs as an an actor.

My mortal Guru was my Irish-Christian brother who taught me how to do everything and gave me my moral values. My spiritual Guru are my parents.

The floors were so sparkling clean you could eat off them. But we only ate off silver. Our grapes were imported from Persia. When my mother married, 10 English sergeants guarded her gifts of jewelry.

I find peace in the forests and mountains.

I live in Mussoorie. I love my birds and Himalayas. There is always a new mountain to climb and mountains keep coming to me.

I think I needed to move on from Bengal.