What is really important to me is a sense of humour and a mischief about life. Life is just too boring otherwise.

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.

It took me three years to learn to dress in the American way, especially in winter. That was just like me. I barely wear socks even now.

Marriage of attraction is a gamble anyway, so you might as well marry into a family that is similar to your own, and make that much less of an adjustment. But the 'love marriage', as it is called, is equally common in India now. But it would be interesting to do a comparison of what would work better. Marriage is hard work, and it is a gamble.

My films, no one else will do.

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

In our house we say 'adolescence' is a western word. We don't believe in it.