Quotes from Rajkumar Hirani

I like human-interest movies that are light-hearted.

I don't think anything comes naturally; you just have to work very hard.

I lived in Bandra East, on the 12th floor. There was a small earthquake; I could feel the building shaking. I was halfway down the stairs when I realised I'd forgotten my laptop, and all my scripts were on it. If I lost the laptop, I'd lose all my work. I ran back up to get it!

100 years of Indian cinema has happened. Anything you do, feels like it has already been done. The struggle is to find a new and unique idea.

PK' is a very unique story. There are no benchmarks in Hindi cinema to give you an idea about 'PK.'

I get so many scripts a day but none of them inspires me. If I get a good inspiring script, then I will be most happy to make it into a film.

A lot of my writing and my detailing of scenes are based on my observations of life in Nagpur.

No one sets out to write escapism as a film's subject matter unless, maybe, you are making a fantasy flick.

Filmmaking is a very collaborative art. Unlike a painting that an artist paints sitting by himself, as a director, you have to work with a team.

With fiction, you can do whatever you want to, but if you are making a film on someone, you have to stick to the truth. You cannot just say that I will change the climax because I do not like it.

One must always attempt to make good films, even if you fail it is ok. It is a journey, you have both good and bad days.

The only time you do not get nervous is when you are making your first film. At that time, just the joy of making a movie is so high that you do not care; you are happy to have finally made it. It is only later that you want your film to be seen and appreciated by people.

I try and get what I want using the strengths that the actors have.

Films have to find a way to compress many anecdotes into one, or many events into one. Otherwise there is no way to tell it in two and a half hours.

I don't understand why we learn what we do for most of it is of no use to us in our careers. To get a grade, students learn just about everything and later none of this is relevant. Grades become more important than learning.

Film-makers are greedy people - we want good stories and good subjects.

You need to have a liberal point of view for a society to grow.

But I don't think as film-makers it is our responsibility that every time we make a film we should be saying something. If you are entertaining people, that's more than enough.

Writing is a lonely process.

Religion is man-made. Every religion says my 'God is the best.'