I would've probably first met Farhan Akhtar, better known as a director then, sometime in mid-2000s. Up until that point practically every interview I'd seen of his, about a filmmaker who'd influenced him most — he'd say Martin Scorsese. He'd pretty much begun his acting career by then. And in my conversation with him, he couldn't, almost by association, not stop talking about Scorsese's muse, Robert De Niro — whose autographed picture found a pride of place in his study.

The fact that Akhtar made a war-movie Lakshya (2003) after a bro-mance Dil Chahta Hai (2001), he said, was because of De Niro, whose career path had taught him to never get complacent about success: "Could've made feel-good films all my life." He had incessantly trained at the time to play athlete Milkha Singh in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2006).

Ask Dibakar Bannerjee what's that one movie that moved him as a filmmaker, earliest on? He'll say Raging Bull (1980). Which is what Scorsese bounced back as a director with, after a brief brush with depression and cocaine-addiction, post the global success of Taxi Driver (1976).