What would be your 10 favourite movies?
It is very difficult to say because it needs a lot of thinking. There are many much more than 10. I can name a few foreign films like Bicycle Thieves, Chaplin's Gold Rush, Felini's Eight and half, Edmund Bergman's Staney and Alexander, The Leopard
In Indian films, it would be Pather Panchali, Mother India, Sant Tukaram and Ram Shastri.
What would be the 10 best performances in your films?
The actors whose work has been fully realised in my films are Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Amrish Puri and Kulbhushan Kharbanda. Shashi Kapoor's work in Kalyug and Junoon was exceptionally good, Ravi Jhankal gave good performances in my films.
Among the actresses, it is Shabana (Azmi), Smita (Patil), Illa Arun Rajeshwari, Pallavi Joshi, Neena Gupta, and Divya Dutta in recent years.
Who among the current lot of directors impresses you the most?
Among the latest, it would be Rituparno Ghosh. He has made a couple of films that I like very very much. Then, there is Mani Ratnam, Ram Gopa Varma and Aparna Sen. My most favourite Indian film director is Adoor Gopalkrishnan.
Among the people who passed away, it would be Satyajit Ray and Rithwick Ghatak.
Among the younger lot, whom have potential are Anurag Kashyap.
Rajkumar Gupta, Raj Kumar Hirani and Vishal Bhardwaj.
Photograph: A still from Mammo
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