Because he doesn’t allow his talent to be bought. Because he could reject Adlabs’ three-film cheque for Rs 30 crore on the grounds that there was no script. Because he directed a movie that had audiences queueing up to cry, turning a Rs 12-crore sleeper into an over Rs 100 crore hit. Because with every film, he acquires a faithful new constituency, whether it is activists through Rang De Basanti or children through Taare Zameen Par. Because at Rs 20-crore-plus revenue share for his next action thriller, a remake of a Tamil hit, he is one of the highest paid actors in Bollywood.