Aamir Khan in a sense, was my first teacher for filmmaking. He used to answer my doubts on the sets of 'Joh Jeeta Wahi Sikander.'Collection: Teacher
I have fully retired as a choreographer. I do not have the patience now to make actors learn their steps. For me, that ship has sailed. I have enjoyed 22 years of it.Collection: Patience
You are only part of the film industry if you are doing well, let me tell you. You will be invited to parties and flowers will reach you on your birthday. When you are not doing well, you are really an outcast.Collection: Birthday
Parenting three children at the same time has helped me grow as a filmmaker. It taught me to be more empathetic and understand what people want from me.Collection: Parenting
Adopting a pet is like taking the responsibility of a baby.Collection: Pet
It is really a sad state of affairs if I am still the only commercially successful woman director. We need a lot more commercially viable women, not only in direction.Collection: Sad
For me feminism is equality.Collection: Equality
Luckily, filmmaking is not a nine-to-five job.
Shirin Farhad' is a romantic tale of an unmarried couple who feel they can live together forever. Having crossed the marriageable age, what happens to them forms the crux of the story. The movie has several comic sequences with an emotional touch to it.
My father Kamran Khan was a successful producer, director and actor in B-grade films.
In 'Purab Aur Paschim,' there's one of the nicer patriotic scenes which is patriotic without going jingoistic. There's a scene set in a rotating restaurant, where Pran, who has left India, is completely running India down and Manoj Kumar is taking up for India. And there's that song 'Jab Zero Diya.'
You get paid what you deserve, according to the money that your movie generates. I get much more than a lot of male directors and I also get less than some. But I get paid what I deserve and what I ask for.
I don't socialise. My social life is minus zero.
The problem with people is that no matter how good you are at what you do, it's never enough for them. There will always be someone to point out some flaw. Someone will always find something lacking in you.
Giving birth to triplets at the age of forty-three is no walk in the park, but I had little choice. I got married at the young age of forty, and both my husband, Shirish, and I were keen to start a family soon.
God bless IVF because it's never too late to conceive any more. However, having said that, I have to point out that going through IVF is a gruelling procedure; maybe that's why only a woman can go through it!
I make commercial films only. I don't make small, boring films.
I always say a film should be given breathing space.
I never thought 'Mein Hoon Na' will do so well in Pakistan. Whenever I meet Pakistanis in London or the U.S., they have so much love and affection for me because of 'Mein Hoon Na,' which was my most criticised film in India.
Cinema, art and culture should definitely be shared. These things transcend borders.
I don't care for jewellery and fancy clothes.
Personally, I love being a mother the most. I dream of taking holidays with my three kids. I want to take my kids to beaches, gardens, the farm, malls everywhere.
Professionally, I like doing one thing at a time and enjoy directing the most.
I have to be someone; maybe I'm just doing it for my father. When I made a movie, it had to be a hit because when he died, he was a flop director.
The stars that I've worked with started their careers almost at the same time as me. Whether it is Shah Rukh Khan or Aamir Khan or Salman Khan.
I'm not promiscuous by nature.
The idea of directing my own movie is definitely more challenging than choreography.
I was chosen over British and French choreographers to work on 'Bombay Dreams.'
I had to let go of many things because we did not have much money growing up. Like joining the Film Institute in Pune or learning the piano.
Somewhere my dad gave up. He was really so successful at his level that after a point he could not handle failure.
IVF is a wonderful thing. One has to ignore the injections as the reality is that nobody is going to invent a pill that you can take to get a baby.
Before I had my babies, I would tend to be self-absorbed, and worry about little things, but now I am a changed person.
Every person with a phone is a critic.
I always say that cinema reflects life, not the other way round.
When I see a lot of the big Hollywood movies, I see they are all financed by Indian studios.
I'd taken 'Om Shanti Om' to Japan and they loved it because they just love the not holding back of emotions.
The climax of 'Johny Mera Naa,' it's one of the best climaxes ever written, ever directed. If I ever wanted to remake a movie, I'd try to do this one, just for the climax.
One of my favourite scenes ever is in Mr India - when the kids are hungry and Sridevi comes with the pastries etc, and they become friends. It's impossible not to get teary-eyed.
The best moment in 'Masoom' comes when the boy tells him that he knows he's his father.
Women directors in India have mostly made niche films. Naturally, those films have a limited market.
Even with a big budget, you can make a niche film.
My experience in Bollywood has been this: You work hard, you deliver, and nobody finds fault with you.
You are punished only when you are not performing as per expectation, and not because you belong to a particular religion, caste, or creed. Here, you fail because your vision is not right or you have not worked hard. That's why I believe we have true democracy in the film industry. How I wish the rest of the country was like the industry!
Manmohan Desai's films pack a lot of joy and have a child-like quality and you can see the director is having fun, but my movies don't suspend disbelief that much. But it's good to be compared to Manmohan Desai. He was run down by critics in his time.
I don't neglect my kids. They are my priority. They come on shoots.
I had babies at the age of 43 because sometimes you get so caught up, you are making your life, building your career and may be you don't want to get married.
I am not an actress.
Later in life there should not be any regrets. Sometimes you have children too early and regret it, 'If I wouldn't have, my career would have been different' and sometimes when you don't have, you miss that opportunity.
Even as one of the best choreographers in the country, I was criticised for a lot of things I have done in life.
Everyone has flaws. We are only human after all. But what's important is, we don't let our flaws stand in the way of what we can achieve.