I had to let go of many things because we did not have much money growing up. Like joining the Film Institute in Pune or learning the piano.

I've always been told that because of 'Main Hoon Na,' a lot of female filmmakers have come up but I maintain that direction is a ‘genderless' job."

For me feminism is equality.

It is really a sad state of affairs if I am still the only commercially successful woman director. We need a lot more commercially viable women, not only in direction.

A lot of kids have parents who say, 'Music is hard; maybe you should come up with a Plan B.' Whenever I hear that kind of 'advice,' I think it's bad parenting. I was lucky to have a parent who assured me it was a possibility to pursue music.

In the past, if I was in the middle of a situation involving my personal life, I was always keeping it to me and my family. I wasn't explaining or telling the fans what was going on because they don't need to know.

What I saw when I was a child was my father who was a pilot, and because of circumstances was thrown into the political system, and all I saw when was small after my grandmother died was my father in constant - constant combat with the system in India, and then I saw him die, actually.

I don't think a lot of the news outlets examine the effect of war on a family.