'Even in Hollywood, you can count the number of women directors on one hand, and this gender bias is there in almost all industries, not just in movies,' says Kagti. 'Although prejudice exists in our industry against women, I was very lucky that I rarely felt it. It was a non-issue while working, but I'm aware that there aren't many like me in India and I had an incredibly supportive cast.'

Honeymoon Travels - starring Shabana Azmi as one half of a couple on a bus with 13 others en route to Goa - chronicles the misadventures and mishaps along the way. It's a romantic comedy-cum-road movie, an uncommon genre in India.

For a first-time director, Kagti managed to assemble a star-studded cast. Alongside Azmi are names such as Boman Irani and Abhay Deol. Until now, Kagti has been best known for assisting Mira Nair in the Reese Witherspoon vehicle Vanity Fair.

'It was the script,' she says of Honeymoon Travels. 'The casting fell into place, but it took me two years sitting with every person, giving them the script, going over it, writing it, rewriting it. If it hadn't been for the connection they made with the writing, I'm not sure where I'd be.'

There's huge anticipation surrounding the film among an increasingly urban crowd more attuned to western films than Bollywood's three-hour, all-singing, all-dancing melodramas.

'It's a relatively short film with very few songs,' Kagti says. 'When I was writing it I wanted it to be an ensemble piece with no clear delineation of a hero and heroine. It's about real people and real problems to evoke real emotions. I just couldn't have them suddenly break out and start dancing on top of the bus.'

Having worked with Indian directors such as Nair and Farhan Akhtar, she faced high expectations. 'I always knew I wanted to be a director and to get my break I was an [assistant director] on a few films over the past few years. I really wanted to be a part of the film industry and I tried to get into a film school in Pune but was rejected.

'I was a second assistant director, then assistant. And over the years I kept writing, so when this script came to me, I wanted to direct it myself.'

Because her family were strangers to the machinations of movie-making in Mumbai, she sought potential corporate backers. 'For six months I [was in discussions with] a company to produce the film and, well, negotiations petered out,' she says. 'I was lucky that I knew Farhan [Akhtar], who agreed to work with me and produce the film. Everything fell into place, but it was never easy.'

Hollywood Travels is a far cry from most Bollywood fare.

'There are great musicals made in India and I'm a fan of them - if they're well made,' Kagti says. But in her movie, all the songs are in the background.

'I'm not expecting a big opening - but that's not to say the film's not commercially viable. It's a different film and everybody needs a break from the usual stuff.'

Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, Fri, 9.40pm; Sat, 5.40pm, Chinachem Plaza Cinema, TST East. Inquiries: 9231 0499