I feel that directors at times are like the janitors on the set. I am the secretary I am the organizer I am the maid and I ask if they have eaten or rested. The best things are always out of your control. It's those moments that surpass the imagination that are thrilling.

Sometimes a character is really based on research that you do. Other times it's just based on your imagination or perhaps your conversation with the director. Or sometimes all of the above. It depends on the movie and character.

One longs for a director with a sense of imagination.

The thing about For Better or Worse is the only thing that made me an okay director for that is that I have a sense of humor and it was supposed to be funny.

So we come out to Los Angeles. And we met with every network. We met with show runners directors writers everything. And what we had an idea for they didn't like. And what they had an idea for we didn't like. So we went home.

I think they quite like me when I work because I'm one of the safer directors to back because even if my films don't bring their costs in back home once they're shown outside of India they manage to cover the costs.

Film is the manipulative medium par excellence. When you think back on the history of film and the 20th century you see the propaganda that's been made. So there are moral demands on the director to treat the spectators as seriously as he or she takes himself and not to see them merely as victims that can be manipulated to whatever ends they have.

When I left my parents' home when I was 19 I went to the University of Florida and within 24 hours was in the mental health department. And within 20 minutes I was being told by the director there that they didn't have what I needed there.

I don't think a director should have any kids. I don't even think it's good for your physical health. Even guys in their 30s look exhausted because directors never get enough sleep. What I do is stressful enough.

During my nearly five years as director-general of WHO high-level policymakers have increasingly recognized that health is central to sustainable development.