From Maqbool and Paan Singh Tomar to Salaam Bombay, he aced an impeccable variety of characters to perfection. He tossed away the idea of love stories and conventional stereotypes linked with a hero. 

Here are some inspiring quotes by the late actor that prove he was a man of substance.

1. “The key to a happy life is to accept you are never actually in control.”

2. “People like to see my work, not my face.”

3. “The day I become conventional, something inside me will die.”

4. “Language doesn’t make one an elite.”

5. “Izzat aur zillat aap ke haath mein nahin hain.”

6. “The sign of a good society is where talent is respected.”

7. “I can’t think of a more pathetic situation for an actor than to do a film and not connect to it. And I pray to God that I never face that situation.”

8. “Wanting fame is a disease, and one day I will want to be free from this disease, from this desire. Where fame doesn’t matter. Where just experiencing life and being okay with it is enough.”

9. “It pains me when a film actor or a cricketer is a youth icon. I don’t have anything against them. They are great entertainers; they are useful to society. They contribute to people’s lives. But they are not heroes.”

10. “Kindness just makes life more bearable, as more happy people will make a happy world.”

 11. “I have played many characters that have consumed me and owned me.”

 12. “You cannot reduce the power of the story with the tag of money because it’s not a share market. So you must know the seriousness of the power of storytelling.”

13. “I don’t want to do romantic roles where I have to lip-sync to a song. A role that explores romance on a new level would suit me.”

14. “Kismat ki ek khas baat hoti hai, ki woh palati hai.”

15. “Our Bollywood stars who talk of being part of 100 crore films, I think I belong to the 1,000 crore club.”

16. “When you are young you are fascinated by so many things. Some things drop, some stay. I can be without anything but I cannot be without nature.”

 17. “I’m not a very talkative man, and people are threatened by silence. If you’re sitting in a group and you’re not saying anything, people start getting insecure. They start thinking, he’s a snob. Or, he’s thinking something negative about me. Silence brings out your devils.”

18. “I am not ready to fit into the mould of commercial cinema.”

19. “I want to entertain people, but with some substance.”

20. “We don’t have a culture of realistic acting in India.”

The cinematic world has truly lost a gem.