As far as I am concerned, India is one hundred per cent empowered. Maybe if you take a high-end view, then you may feel that our country is still to be empowered. But I’m an optimistic guy, I view the whole thing from the ideology of Indians. You’ve got to know that for any regular guy from Ulhasnagar, getting good products at affordable prices is an index of the country being self-sufficient and empowered. The ideology of India has always been to create its own. Maybe we make cheaper versions of cars or mixies but we never look outside. As I see it, our grass is as green as anyone else’s. That’s why I won’t ever do a Hollywood film. Rather I’d like to do a Hindi film that does the business of a Hollywood film. I’m a semi-young Indian who has never been to a mall in India. The other day I was talking to my friend Juhi Chawla and she told me that the malls are just as good or bad as in any other country. That’s great. Things are wonderful in India. The economic structure is rising, technological advancements are making headlines and the social consciousness is also pretty encouraging. We’ve made progress in all spheres. Be it malls in Gurgaon, irrigation in Punjab or computer advancement in Hyderabad: greatness is happening every day. We’re unaware of it but we’re definitely not worse than what we were 50 years ago. Talking about my field, I feel real life inspires cinema. All the headlines we read in the papers become stories on screen. The newspapers tell us how a police officer behaves or what a social worker looks like. Whenever we try to tell people anything, we go over the top. Cinema tells the picture in colour and empowers people in the sense that anyone can take home what they want. For me, cinema is all about entertainment. And if I can empower within the framework of empowerment then I’m content. It’s very simple: if I want to make a TV film for children, I will do something like PlayStation. Why not? Kids have a right to be entertained. That’s my thought of empowerment for kids. I don’t expect kids to become a Nehru or Gandhi but I want them to know their country. The thought should be: give them what they want at the right stage. Every story has one theme: triumph of good over evil. It might be Jesus saying it or Prophet Mohammad or The Incredibles. I empower people with smiles. As long as I can provide two hours of complete fun, I’m happy. Maybe I only reach inside, make you mushy or soft on emotion but I promise to make it so basic that it becomes the most prominent. I love to be sweetly mushy and want all my audience to smile in relief, at inane stuff or smile. If for two hours, I can make them forget that they had to wade for two hours to reach home during the Mumbai floods, I’m happy. I’ve done my job of empowering them to smile. Make no mistake, I stand for empowerment of escapism.
