I truly believe my job is to make sure people smile.

When I think back on it, of course I got lucky and got great directors and good breaks but all that was the physical part. But what made me a star was that I could take a chance and not have anything to worry about in terms of losing.

As far as the public is concerned, India is amazingly secular.

More than an actor, I am a performer... I'm a great believer - honestly so, shamelessly so, vulgarly so - that cinema is for entertainment. If you want to send messages, there's the postal service.

My father is a chemist, my mother was a homemaker. My parents instilled in us the feeling that learning was the most exciting thing that could happen to you, and it never ends.

That's what you want to keep sharing with the players in today's world: knowing that you represent yourself and your family each time you step on the court and to be the best at it because you never know where it leads to after it's all said and done.

I believe in God, family, truth between people, the power of love.

Since 2005, I have not spent much time with my family. In fact I have spent more time at the Taj Landsend in Mumbai. It was my 100th visit recently, which means I have spent more than 400 days in that hotel, and that is a lot more than I have spent with my family.