Rajkumar Hirani Quotes

I take time to write my script, if I have more scripts, I will make more movies.

I don’t understand why we learn what we do for most of it is of no use to us in our careers. To get a grade, students learn just about everything and later none of this is relevant. Grades become more important than learning.

Most biopics are stories of people who achieve something. It’s an easier graph, a rags-to-riches story, or wanting something and reaching that. Sanju’s life is not actually a case like that.

I’ve often been asked why my shot-taking is not stylish, why I don’t think about visual statements. The truth is, style is irrelevant. I never think of the shot as much as I think of the characters and what they are saying and doing.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra is the only man I see around who makes films because he thinks ‘this is a story that needs to be told, so let’s tell it.’

I feel some people are cynical by nature. You show them anything, they only see the problems and negatives.

You never know the depth of an actor.

I’m absolutely open to scripts written by someone else.

I can lock myself for months in the editing suite with no noise or distractions. It’s fascinating to see the film taking shape.

Assuming audiences to be dumb, that’s a big fallacy.

I have the highest respect for the concept of ‘Advait’ – the oneness of all humans – that is central to Indian culture, thought, and religion.

You need to write about something that you really know about or you deeply connect with. Don’t fake it.

In ‘Sanju,’ there are too many colours. Some other filmmaker could have taken a dark side to that story.

A director should be in a position where he is only directing. On the sets, he is only looking at the performances, thinking ‘How I am going to shoot this?’

Film-makers are greedy people – we want good stories and good subjects.

I feel the primary job of cinema is to entertain.

Whenever I finish a film, I feel that this is the worst film that I have made. This is bound to happen because while writing, directing and editing a film, I would have lived it 5000 times. Naturally, one tends to loose objectivity.

PK’ is a very unique story. There are no benchmarks in Hindi cinema to give you an idea about ‘PK.’

Attenborough’s ‘Gandhi‘ shook me as a filmmaker.

In non-fiction, I like Wayne Dyer. I have a compilation of his best quotes near my bed! To me he’s one of the finest authors.

So you know, as a filmmaker you have to get it all right in the writing stage. After that, one has to leave it on the judgement of your trusted ones and the audiences.

I think in any work of art, there always will be randomness about what is good, what is bad.

An editor does not just join shots. He creates emotions out of the shots.

I get so many scripts a day but none of them inspires me. If I get a good inspiring script, then I will be most happy to make it into a film.

Taking nuances from real life will help you make scenes that have never been done before. It keeps the story interesting.

With fiction, you can do whatever you want to, but if you are making a film on someone, you have to stick to the truth. You cannot just say that I will change the climax because I do not like it.

The only time you do not get nervous is when you are making your first film. At that time, just the joy of making a movie is so high that you do not care; you are happy to have finally made it. It is only later that you want your film to be seen and appreciated by people.

I am not really worried about how others perceive me.

In Hollywood, the system is so streamlined, the administration is in place. That’s why every six months Spielberg is able to make a film.

I can make any film I want to make.

When your first movie releases, in my case it was ‘Munnabhai MBBS,’ I was just relieved that it was out there. Just that sheer thought makes you happy.

Every film is a journey.

I’m a filmmaker first, nothing else matters.

I lived in Bandra East, on the 12th floor. There was a small earthquake; I could feel the building shaking. I was halfway down the stairs when I realised I’d forgotten my laptop, and all my scripts were on it. If I lost the laptop, I’d lose all my work. I ran back up to get it!

There’s a big time influence Hrishikesh Mukherjee has always had on my work. I can watch ‘Anand,’ ‘Golmaal’ or ‘Chupke Chupke’ as many times as possible. I just really admire his kind of cinema.

I like playing with languages and dialects as we have so many in India. Adding a dialect just makes the dialogues more colorful.

I would say films inspire me more than the makers.

I prefer to be a director and a narrator rather than a writer.

Editing is a meditative process. I enjoy it the most. I am not dealing with 200 people.

Every actor is great in his own right but certain actors suit certain roles.

In terms of films, I don’t like to show pain. I’d like to show hope.

If you make something from your heart, of course you want it to connect with the people.

When you focus on your own work, it all falls in place. People respect you.

Scale is very easy actually. Put a camera on a jib or a drone and get bloody big shots on big sets, it’s very easy. But then you’re distracted. If you’re looking at the shot, you aren’t following the story any more.

When you make a film you make a film. You don’t think about how it will be marketed.

I have a terrible reputation for being nervous.

You need to have a liberal point of view for a society to grow.

For me, cinema is happiness.

When I make a film, the yardstick is my mind. If I laugh at the jokes and feel sad at the serious undersides, then the subject works.

Someday I want to really talk about religion and blind faith. I explored astrologers, palmistry etcetra at length till I believed it was a scam. Even in ‘3 Idiots‘ I take a dig at them.

Making a film confusing does not make it intelligent.

The longest break I have taken in my life was 14 days. On the 15th day, I started getting impatient to start work again.

The more you succeed, the more you want people to love your efforts.

I completely work on the basis of my intuition. I don’t think I premeditate a success formula. There is no formula to make a successful film.

Any holiday seems like a guilt trip.

Religion is man-made. Every religion says my ‘God is the best.’

After I finish any film, I move to the next one. It takes about a year to write and another six months are for pre-production and other things. You need a minimum of two-and-a-half months for the shooting of a new film. Then, I also edit my own film.

No one sets out to write escapism as a film’s subject matter unless, maybe, you are making a fantasy flick.

100 years of Indian cinema has happened. Anything you do, feels like it has already been done. The struggle is to find a new and unique idea.

I am trying to make the kind of film that I would be happy to see.

I read till I fall asleep. Daytime actually I feel guilty reading – I always feel I should be doing something else!

It takes time to write a script and properly make the film and edit it.

I like human-interest movies that are light-hearted.

It is impossible to know what people will like. No market research, formulas will help, it’s best to stop guessing.

Writing is a lonely process.

That’s a battle we are always fighting whenever we cut trailers or promos for films. We always wonder how much to say, and every filmmaker wants to say the minimum. You don’t want to reveal your film and ruin the viewing experience.

A lot of medical problems are solved if doctors are nice to patients. If you can make them think positive, you may not need medication.

A lot of my writing and my detailing of scenes are based on my observations of life in Nagpur.

To preach is very boring, and nobody wants free advice. But if it’s entertainment, then this changes. If you explain something to a kid through an interesting story, he’ll be hooked.

Writers should be respected.

Filmmaking is a very collaborative art. Unlike a painting that an artist paints sitting by himself, as a director, you have to work with a team.

I don’t think anything comes naturally; you just have to work very hard.

I grew up in Nagpur, and I first started enjoying the author Harishankar Parsai. He wrote mostly satire, essays on the current situation and social issues. He wrote many books and I think he was my first influence.

Nagpur was a very small town. There was no exposure to different kinds of films or world cinema. Only Manmohan Desai films.

At the end of the day, you don’t remember ‘Mother India’ or ‘Pyaasa’ for the business it did, you remember them because they had a good story to tell.