In an industry that churns out nearly 400 movies each year, there are just four women directing Hindi films. Reema Kagti, 33, is one of them. On the eve of her first directorial venture, Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, she seems cool and composed.
'Even I'm surprised that I'm not jittery as it finally hits theatres,' Kagti says.
In the incestuous Indian film industry, a director whose family doesn't include actors, producers and financiers is hard to find. Female directors are even rarer.
'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.'
