Manoj Night Shyamalan likes to be called Night. It could've something to do with the dark eerie supernatural thrillers that he specializes in. There's certainly no night-like quality in his sunny smiling positive personality.

In India to promote his latest film and to collect the Padma Shri, Night whose eight feature film so far have garned mindblowing to mixed reviews and boxoffice collections, speaks candidly to Subhash K Jha.

I am not going to ask you what you think of Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan
Ha ha, thank you.

So how was it receiving the Padma Shri?
It was great! My family came with me to see me get the award. It was wonderful. It made feel re-connected with my roots. It made me feel India understood the relevance of a journey that was so meaningful to me.

You reached a critical and boxoffice peak with Sixth Sense in 1999. Has the momentum in your career been lost thereafter?
No! What you've just said is something I've not heard abroad for seven years. I hear this a lot in India. It feels like everyone is five years behind.You can't judge my career by the boxoffice alone.

Well some of your films have been critical failures too.
Sixth Sense being one of them. Yes it did get nominated for Oscars. But if you're talking about Oscars that's just 500 of my peers.

The myth that you've portrayed about my movies was disproven by my very next film after The Sixth Sense. Unbreakable is actually my most resonant movie.

I feel I surpassed my previous film myself as a movie maker over here, although it was my lowest-grossing movie for a while. That was an irony for me. And time has proven that it was wrongly received. It's my personal favourite.

So would say that The Sixth Sense was in a sense your millstone rather than milestone?
Only in India. So I don't know what it says about the culture here. When I go to Europe they talk mainly about my Unbreakable and The Village.

The first- world has moved on, we're frozen in our perceptions of your abilities.
I don't know what the third -world is. But there's a critical mass that believes there's no way The Lady In The Water could be better than The Sixth Sense. But I feel four of my films are better than Sixth Sense.

Which ones?
Unbreakable, Lady In The Water, The Village and my latest film The Happening. But I think Sixth Sense is better than Signs..

Where do you place your latest film in your oeuvre?
The Happening is definitely my scariest movie.It's probably the most intense experience that I've had so far. The 90-minutes of playing time offer the most incredibly intense experience for the audience.

You started your career with a very introspective semi-autobiographical film Praying With Anger. What took you into this long-lasting romance with the supernatural?
I never had an agenda. The agenda is that I never had an agenda. All my movies are conversations about faith. The supernatural element just happened. I think my life illustrates a shift in culture where I may be American.

But at heart I remain very Indian. I grew up in America but my first movie was based in India. And when I was surrounded with all these American girls I chose to marry an Indian girl.

Sixth Sense remains a most ripped-off film.
(laughs) Yes. When I see films like I Am Legend, I feel good about the fact that I was making an inspiring supernatural film, although mine was different.

At the end of the day we're all borrowing from one another. I was ripping off Steven Spielberg anyway. No, seriously. I even told Steven that.

After I finished my latest film The Happening I watched Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. The opening credits of both films are the same! It just happened.

Have you grown up watching horror-supernatural films?
I definitely love them. But can you just ask one more question? My family is waiting for me.

Ok...You make cameo appearances in your films. Are you inspired Subhash Ghai?
I say no to the second part of your question because I don't know who that is. I'm content doing what I'm doing. But if I come across a role in my films that seems right or I fall in love with a character, I do it.

But it gets trickier to play roles when I'm Indian and a certain age and now famous, it's hard to find myself roles in my films.