Kabir Bedi quotes:

Pakistan tries mentally challenged girl of blasphemy against the Holy Book. India arrests kids for posts on Facebook. Morbid competition?

I turned into a monk when my mother went to learn Buddhism in Burma. While she learnt at the monastery, I used to roam around with a begging bowl and ask for food.

I am going to produce a movie of my own. I am not going to stick to the time-tested formulae of Hindi cinema. I want to make a film for the present generation. So there will be a lot of new faces in the film.

Delhi is my emotional home. I still dream of owning a home there.

I'm not the sort to wallow in nostalgia about the good old days.

Every relationship comes with a shelf life; that duration could be a minute or even a lifetime. If, for whatever reasons, a relationship cannot last a lifetime, contrary to what the two people imagined, then both the individuals have to be communicative and have to understand and accept the reality.

I have the greatest love for the rituals of organised religion - the sense of community and belonging it can confer to people. But me, I'm more a questioner than a follower; not by whim or fashion, but as a decision painfully arrived at after much, much thought.

You see, I have many friends in the Hindi film industry.

Whether people choose to have same sex relationships or relationships outside the marriage - whatever happens between two consenting adults should be purely their business, not the state's or the society's.

I'm an international actor, but at the same time, I'm also a Bollywood actor, even though most of my career has been abroad. However, I've always kept in touch with Hindi cinema.

There's nothing called a perfect pick-up line. Men always have to face the risk of rejection.

Everything has a place and time.

Men are like mascara, they run at the slightest display of emotion.

The average Englishman has no idea of the dynamism in the music scene here.

Honestly, I'm willing to experiment with far more variety in roles than I'm given. But ultimately, it's the producer's decision. But, I've done a variety of roles - the evil don, the evil husband... I've done villainous roles, supporting roles, etc.

Love is a beautiful feeling.

I think I've had an interesting life. I've done films, TV, theatre and got married. I don't have any regrets.

I also said, men are like curling irons, they never get out of your hair. And they are like government bonds, they take so long to mature.

Not all roles you do can be chocolate sweet.

You are probably right when you say that I could get a role in any producer's film if I just asked.

In the 30 years of my career, I have explored all possible mediums, except radio.

Being an international actor, I always had to keep moving.

Acting was merely a pastime; I wanted to make films. But theatre, ah - now that was a labour of love. Can there be anything better than performing without retakes and cuts, in front of people you can see, hearing them breathe in the darkness of the hall?

My parents were no ordinary people. My mother turned Gandhian, and my father was a staunch communist. They named me after the great saint as a symbol of communal harmony.

The life of an actor is very hard irrespective of the continent you are in. It is doubly hard when you are only eligible for minority roles.

Theatre is done largely for the love of the craft. Television makes you famous. And films immortalize you. That's the relationship between the three.

I am essentially someone who comes from the theatre. I love the theatre. Unfortunately, theatre doesn't pay the bills. Only in theatre abroad, I get a wage.

Actors are limited by their appearance and while it has cost me some roles, it has got me some very important roles too.

Different nations have different ways of forming their national identity. In America, for instance, the model was one of homogeneity breaking from different backgrounds, and the whole effort was to blend them all together like a wonderful making of a milkshake!

Everything has its advantages and disadvantages.

I can't play Mahatma Gandhi.

I could play Arab roles, even German roles, Italian roles because I had that look.

I grew up speaking English and Punjabi. Just living and working in Punjab and smelling the early morning air and sitting down and having paranthas and lassi and all that was marvellous.

I have never pressurized a producer to do me any favor.

I think the Indian model of respecting the uniqueness of each religion and, of every state is what makes the country great.

I think worldwide, the movement has been towards accepting and respecting the individuality and the rights of gay people, lesbians and transgender people. Here, however, age-old cultural mindsets - which also comes from Victorian times, affect the thinking of people.

In a country like India, we don't want to put everyone in one big mixture. We have a different language, culture and cuisine for each region, even though we are united in the larger context. We are more like a fruit salad, where each ingredient has its own specialty, each fruit its distinct flavor, and together, the salad makes a tasty dish, without losing the individuality of each constituent.

India can't be looked at as a country; it's more of a continent.

It is time that India legally respected the rights of LGBT persons. It is very sad that this is not enshrined in Indian law in India so far, but I do believe that soon, we will come on par with respecting the individuality of people with different sexualities.

Love just happens, you know.

Osho is one of India's greatest mystics.... I see him as one of the world's great teachers, thinkers, philosophers and guides of our times. I have enormous respect for his world vision and the kind of International Communities he is building. I have always felt his influence in my life.

The advantage my looks gave me was that I wasn't limited to just playing Indian roles when I was abroad, and I've been abroad for almost twenty-five years.

The Anglo-Saxon world saw India as an underdeveloped country. The land of snake charmers, the cows on the street, that "ex-colony-backward-nation" kind of viewpoint, very condescending. Europe on the other hand, saw India in a more romantic, mystical, spiritual way, as a place that's a fountain of wisdom.

There's a big difference between how the Anglo-Saxon world views India, or viewed India, and the way Europe views India.

Today, of course, the world's perception of India has changed tremendously. People understand its role in world affairs; they understand that India is not some backward nation. In fact, it is the fastest growing free-market democracy in the world today, and that says it all.

When you are a filmmaker, you need to be rooted, because committing yourself to producing or directing a film is a good three-year process.

I love the stage, I love the process of acting in theatre, but unfortunately, it doesn't pay the bills.

I do believe that with more worldwide influences, the coming of the internet age and digital media, the flow of information is far greater, and people's understanding can expand more easily.