I wanted to make an Indian character who wasn't either a) the savage that must be eliminated, the force of nature that's blocking the way for industrial progress, or b) the noble innocent that knows all and is another cliche. I wanted him to be a complicated human being.
I used to buy into a former Supreme Court justice's argument that you can't scream fire in a crowded theater. Well, I think you can.
Every country gets the circus it deserves. Spain gets bullfights. Italy the Church. America Hollywood.