The cheeky young man who once gave me one-word answers grew into a philosophical, detached star yet remained simple and humble, never letting stardom steal his heart, notes Rediff's Shobha Warrier who first interviewed the Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner in 1987.
'After tobacco, the next most common cause for oral cancer is alcohol.'
'The fiscal situation is extremely vulnerable. It has never been so bad in Kerala's history.'
'They have to prove the credibility of their talk; whether they want to focus on the secular face of India, whether they want to focus on democracy and above all freedom of an individual to practice his or her religion.'
'We can't afford to fight each other.' 'We have to win the 2026 election.'
'They should be given a strong message that they are not the ones who decide the rule of the land, and they are not the ones who decide what justice is.'
'What India has done will surely embolden more countries to stand up to Trump.'
'There will be not less than 31 lakh people working in the census process.'
'India did not surrender. That was why he wanted to pressurise India by this 25% tariffs.'
'Look at the number of flights the aircraft has done. Look at the number of airlines which are using it.'
'What we need is the cultural encouragement to take risks, to fail occasionally, and to keep questioning.'
'VS was a man who devoted every moment of his life, from the beginning till his death at the age of 100, to the struggle against the injustices inflicted upon land, nature and the common man.'
'It is for the first time in Independent India that collection of information on caste is being done.'
'They will cover up the failures of all the others.'
'JP opened up about all the betrayals, the betrayal of the Jan Sangh and the RSS, how they ganged up with Sanjay Gandhi and pulled down the Morarji Desai government, how they destroyed the Janata Party.'
'Other than blaming the pilot, there is zero accountability.'
'It is an indication that they had forgotten to retract the landing gear. That causes heavy drag, and you cannot accelerate or gain height too fast with a hanging gear.'
'All governments are scared of a negative image.' 'Somehow, this government has a tendency to create a narrative that things are improving.' 'When the real data gives a different picture, they are upset.'
'Today, the State looks at everyone with suspicion.'
'At Keeladi, we have not come across any evidence for organised religion.'
'The protection of secrecy and anonymity gets lost with this linking.'
'When there are glaring errors in the report, how can you trust anything in it?'
'The Railways is today running train services with 30% less number of loco pilots.'
'Archaeological sites like Keeladi, having remained buried for 2,500 years, have come out and speak now.'
'You know the situation in Yemen now. There is no government there.' 'The rebels are in control. So, there is no diplomatic channel through which we can negotiate.'
'The nuns were subjected to abusive language and all types of mental torture.'
'What is going on is the under counting of the migration population in urban areas.' 'It has been going on in the last few censuses.'
'According to JP, Indira Gandhi was not much of a danger to democracy. He said, it was Sanjay Gandhi and his gang.'
'The CBI did a wonderful job of tracking down the killers, but at the end of the day, all the hard work went for a toss.' 'If we had caught them alive, the operation would have been successful completely.'
'Despite being a software powerhouse, we're not producing proportionate original IP, frameworks, or global tech products originating in India.'
'The defence forces have come up with certain problems they face in the drone space.' 'Recently we had a meeting at which they presented the problems to many of our start-ups and faculty.' 'Some of the start-ups have started working on the problems.'
'If you don't fulfil whatever they ask, you are in trouble.'
'...hesitate to support the risk-taking it requires.'
'It concerns the sea and the security of the nation. What has happened is a big tragedy.'
'It will split people and create caste clashes. Unity of people will be affected for the time being.'
'What does Indira Gandhi want from me? At this age, what will I do to her?'
'We had prepared tapioca and crabs for him, and he enjoyed the Kerala cuisine thoroughly.'
'Even one accident can cause problems for the entire coastal system.'
'Nobody asked us to work on this. It was on our own that we decided to embark on this journey.'
'For the first time in this country, perhaps the first time anywhere, we are going to use backwardness index.' 'It is a fundamental shift in the discourse in the country's social justice.'
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