Our choices are quite different: what attracts Salman and Shah Rukh are, I think, quite different from what attracts me. So in that sense, we are quite different, but I think we are fortunate to have had the kind of success that we've had.

If the role is challenging enough, I don't see why I shouldn't play an older man or a father figure. It is not about playing what you are in real life. We are called actors for a reason!

There must be a story within him/her that wants to come out. That's the reason why 'Dil Chahta Hai,' 'Lagaan,' and 'Rang De Basanti' worked so well: Ashutosh, Farhan, and Rakesh had a story inside them. It's very important that the director should have the fire in the belly to tell the story.

My films are so new and unique that I don't know where I will end up. Fear keeps me alert. And it's also a part of an excitement.

Many people, including me, thought it was too early for me to play a father to two grown-up daughters, but I found the script of 'Dangal' irresistible. I had to do it!

Essentially, it is the director who is the creative head of a film. The final authority on all decisions lies with the director. That is how it should be. And then other team members can give their creative inputs.

As an actor, the best way I can hope to promote greater social understanding is through my work. If I can communicate with people and touch their hearts through 'Dangal,' perhaps, eventually, I can help change their minds.

I don't see myself as an activist. I understand that people, with me doing 'Satyameva Jayate,' for example, they will feel that I'm being an activist, but I'm not. Actually, I'm not, because I think an activist, as I see it, as a person who is very, very - takes up one issue and remains with that one issue for his entire life. I'm not doing that.

I feel that, in India, we have films that have tackled various issues over the years, but perhaps one of the issues that we've tackled less is the issue of caste-ism. That's an issue we've more or less stayed away from... although we touched on it briefly in some films like 'Lagaan.'

The way actors interact with their audience via Twitter is a part of their personality. So if I interact less, that is a part of my personality. I am mostly lost in my own world.