Hirani has three of the most remembered movies under his belt -- Munnabhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munna Bhai and 3 Idiots.
"For me, filmmaking is not a business at all. Anyway, I am a rotten businessman, " he quipped.
"If I had to make money, then I would have made atleast five sequels of Munnabhai MBBS by now. We have to enjoy making a film, " he said.
Asked the formula behind his successful movies, his pat reply was "The formula for a good script is 'don't follow formula. "
He opined that chasing success leads to uncertain mode whether it would really approach our way or not. This thought was interestingly depicted in 3 Idiots wherein Rancho played by Amir Khan chanted the same message to his best friends played by R Mahadevan and Sharman Joshi.
"Movies should have a pinch of entertainment or drama to attract audiences to theaters. It should evoke emotion...Audiences definitely don't want sermons or lectures when they come for a movie but instead they want something entertaining, " he added.
48-year-old Hirani was born to a Sindhi family that migrated to India after the partition. To his credit, he has the highest grossing hit Hindi film by distributor share in the history of Indian cinema across the country and overseas markets.
Now after this success, the filmmaker is eager to try his hand in short films. "I have grown up making short films...I want to make atleast a five minute-film. This is on my agenda now, " he said adding that this is a stepping stone to budding filmmakers.
To another question on how he perceives IFFI with very few Bollywood films being screened, he replied that Bollywood cinema should be a highlight.
"IFFI actually is to promote all kinds of films but if some feel that Bollywood is sidelined then the festival organizers can introduce a separate section called 'emerging cinema'...however it is not right to reduce Bollywood films if the festival is being conducted consciously, " he said.