Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has been responsible for the birth of many a Bollywood star - Shraddha Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Mallika Sherawat, and Emraan Hashmi to name a few. But he refuses to assume any credit for their successes, saying, “I have not made anyone a star. I don’t live in that delusion. If you don’t have the talent, you won’t be here. I don’t have any power, nor am I a magician. I can sense if someone is efficient, and there’s nothing more gratifying than watching people grow.”

The filmmaker adds that the audience is always looking for a new face on the celluloid, and it’s they who are the real star-makers.

“The market is scared of new people, but the audience loves to watch newcomers. It’s in the audience’s hands whether to make someone a star or not,” he says.

Bhatt also adds that his own success is owed to his tough childhood and emotional upbringing. “The only person I was very attached to, was my mother. We came from a home in which my father was not around, so I felt every curve of my mother’s emotions as a child. I could not have a better teacher than my childhood. That’s how I learnt the language of cinema,” he says.