Q: The collections worldwide for Saawariya seem to be at loggerheads with some of the reviews at home.

A: You tell me when, where and how these negative stories about Saawariya come from. It collected an estimated Rs.500-570 million in India over its opening weekend. This is biggest opening for an Indian film with newcomers in the lead.

Q: Commercial success has never been a problem for you.

A:Saawariya has got the biggest opening ever in the history of Indian cinema with two newcomers in the lead. Most people love what I’ve done. Media manipulation won’t kill my film. I’m open to healthy criticism and debate. But not prejudiced criticism.

Q: Are audiences having a tough time accepting Saawariya because you’ve built another kind of expectation through your earlier films?

A: The huge barrage of criticism hasn’t prevented people from appreciating my merger of raga-based melodies with a Broadway-styled play. As far as I’m concerned, people love Saawariya. Only a handful of critics are trying to influence the audience to go against the film. They didn’t succeed with "Devdas". They won’t succeed in conditioning the audience’s mind.

Q: A lot of people have commented on the imaginary world that you’ve created.

A: I’m glad they noticed it. It’s a fairytale world that existed in my mind. I chose to tell the story of my romantic world through the eyes of a prostitute. Why should we only locate our films in places that already exist?

There are many genres of cinema. Why can’t I make a film that exists in a state of the abstract and unattainable?

Q: People think you are too enamoured of the studio style of filmmaking.

A: And what is wrong with that? I find the atmosphere in a studio creatively liberating. Just as you cannot record a song without a studio, I can’t make a film without the studio atmosphere. I carry within myself indelible influences of Bimal Roy, K. Asif, Raj Kapoor and Vijay Anand. And that’s the abstract world, which audiences are connecting to in "Saawariya".

Q: Would you say filmmakers today are trying to persuade us into believing that cinema is about joy and laughter?

A: Not all, only some filmmakers who are trying to take cinema back to the 1970s and 80s and some critics who have made the crappiest films are sitting in judgement over filmmakers who dare to dream.

Q: Raj Kapoor’s influence is predominant.

A: Why not? I wanted my impressions and influences of Raj Kapoor to be prominent when his grandson was being launched."Saawariya" has a lot of RK’s "Awara", "Barsaat" and "Sri 420".