Actors can be refined and be better. I’m an improved version of whatever you’ve seen earlier. I do not say this with arrogance, but it is my duty to be better than my predecessor and it’s my duty to see that my successor is better than me.

Balachander is my inspiration. He had a heart problem 40 years back. He has been making films for another 46 years. He can never grow old. My father used to be like that until he suffered a stroke. Then I suddenly realized he was an old man.That's also true of my brothers Chandra Haasan and to an extent Charu Haasan.I can never imagine them being old.

...for the [[Tamil language|Tamil version of ‘Dasavatharam’, she was my coach for my American accent. She had just returned from the US and was the perfect medium to help her father's Madrasi accent to be transformed into a yankee accent. She was a bully. She made me do many retakes in the dubbing. And after dubbing, she wanted me to correct some more of my accent. Everyone thought that was taking it a little too far.

It is wrong to celebrate 100 years of cinema with just India. It is 100 years of cinema for Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka. All these places saw Indian cinema as it was produced in Lahore, Mumbai, Chennai — it went all the way. It is 100 years of cinema of what used to be my India, my Pakistan, my Afghanistan and my Sri Lanka. That’s how an artist looks at it and it’ll soon be my world. It is the governments and political interests that create borders.

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When we talk career, we get into an argument. In Hindi films, she is facing the same problems I did. If a K. Balachander hadn't come along to do 'Ek Duuje Ke Liye' with me in Hindi, I wonder what would've happened to me! I would have suffered much worse because Shruti is far more savvy than me.