I think it's really important not to be so judgmental and not to be so fearful. Try to have confidence in yourself. Don't depend so much on what others say about you or want you to be.

I simply can't understand the stereotyping women as film makers who make soppy family dramas. Look at Katherine Bigelow: she has directed Point Break and Strange Days. I hate labels of any kind. Just because you are a woman you can't do this or that? Twenty years ago women entering the work force was enough of a shock. People just like the predictable; they feel safe with it. You know, it's such a bore

Once the script is done, I put it aside for a month. I start thinking of all the films that have influenced me, which I have liked for different reasons, and not necessarily the look, but films that have moved me. Some very strange films came to mind.

To make a film is very difficult - it doesn't make a difference whether you are a man or a woman

Oh my God! Why did I leave India? I fell in love with a white man. That's what it was. It was the most boring, predictable reason in the world. I met him in India, we fell in love, and we got married. And then, we got divorced. Sorry about that.

The most interesting part of IIFA is that I get to meet filmmakers from India. I just attended a symposium on Satyajit Ray with Rituparno Ghosh and others. It was just so satisfying

It was difficult in India to find an eight year old who could play a widow. The reason for that is that most of the children in India are really exposed to Bollywood. It's commercial Indian cinema which is really over the top. To find an actor, or even a non-actor, who felt natural was difficult.