I really think that people who want to think more serious have to go and watch theater. Theater is a very sterilized art form. Not as much as music, but very close to music.

Whenever I write a part, I think there's this person somewhere in the world that this part is specifically for and all I have to do is go searching to find that particular individual.

The bigger confrontation is the one an individual has with itself.

I think that theater is the closest medium to music. It's very pure. It's for the elite of the society. It's not for everyone in the society.

Poetry, especially traditional Iranian poetry, is very good at looking at things from a number of different angles simultaneously.

I prefer to stay in my country. But this doesn't mean if someone does want to leave Iran, I think they've done something wrong - the desire to leave is completely understandable.

There is no privilege in restriction. In other words, I disagree with people who say restriction makes you more creative. I think that's a misleading slogan. I might have been more creative without them than with them.