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.

Maintenance grants, a proud Labour achievement which made it easier for children from lower and middle income families to go to university, have been abolished in one fell swoop. To be replaced with loans.

In Hollywood a marriage is a success if it outlasts milk.

I think people are very stiff. Money makes people stiff, and we want it, and we have to pay the penalty. I never agreed with stiffness. I think people have an understanding of what their life is. I define success by being a realist and not humiliating people. I'm a revolutionary - but not in the political sense.

I think it's also important to show that failure is a part of the process. It can sometimes be the end goal. People are very obsessed with building useful things and I think often that also stops people from getting started.