You know, the sad thing of post-9/11, which was of course horrific, was that the city in which I felt completely at home for two decades, suddenly people like us - brown people - were looked at as the 'Others.'

I am still attracted to stories about people who are considered to be on the outside of society. I still seek inspiration from those stories.

I grew up in a very small town which is remote even by Indian standards. I always dreamed of the world.

'Salaam Bombay' didn't put a halo on the poor. Instead, it said that they will teach us how to live.

I've never sought to be on an A-list. I've done my own thing and my own thing has thankfully now brought me an audience.

They say now in America that final cut doesn't mean anything. As Harvey Weinstein said to some film-maker, 'You can have final cut. I'll open your film in Arkansas.'

It gave me a lot of pleasure and pride that 90 percent of the crew for 'Monsoon Wedding,' and most of my film, are women. We get the work done, you know, much lesser play of ego... And I really believe in harmony, I believe in working in a spirit of egolessness and that the film is bigger than all of us.