Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

I love music, but can't hold a note in a bucket. I can't sing, can't play an instrument.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

I definitely want a partner and would like to spend the rest of my life with somebody, but I don't care if am married or not.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

I was an executive producer. I've done a lot of jobs and I think each one helps you get closer to what you want as a director. It also helps you - when you work with different filmmakers - to absorb, to adapt, to know what to watch out for, to know pitfalls.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

I've grown up in the film industry and I've been watching them, analyzing them, laughing at them, totally understanding them and getting their point of view, and, at times, taking up for them. So I'm part of it and it's part of me.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

To make a good film is an art. Gender is irrelevant when it comes to craft of filmmaking.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

At 19, while studying at St Xavier's College and majoring in literature and sociology, I got my first job as a copywriter. It was at a company called the Script Shop.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

You realize you have to become aware of your inner monologue. The things you say to yourself. This raised my consciousness so it was vital to my growth, I would say.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

This is kind of a dual existence where you are harsh but at the same time emotional. You are there because you have experienced trauma.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

See I think we are nervous about every movie before it's release, irrespective of who has directed the movie.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

We are absolutely open to working with outside directors. But the criteria for working with outside directors would be the script they have, the kind of vision they have.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

Writing is my main interest; it is where my heart is. I always want to continue writing. Apart from that, I enjoy casting and hopefully want to direct too.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

Well, everyone in my family is a writer. There is a big contribution on the script level by everyone.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

My evenings are usually spent eating cake with tea, which I should stop. Then I either hang with friends or watch something. I like my evenings free because that is when I get to spend time with myself, my dogs or with friends.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

Some of my characters are drawn from people I know whereas others are an amalgamation of people or one specific person. Sometimes a character is simply fictional. It is always a mix.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

Most good actors you work with, they actually bring something to the creative process and to the script. They help shape the character with you. Whereas, some actors are so worried about their image and not about the character, it doesn't help the story.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

What a good actor brings to a script is something, sometimes, even directors can't imagine. The director should always have the last say though.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

I am thrilled and very grateful that 'Gully Boy' has been picked as India's official entry for the Oscars.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

At the end of my life, I want to have a body of work that has everything.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

I want to do all kind of films. I don't want to be bracketed into one kind of cinema and if somebody does that, then it is on them.

Zoya Akhtar
Zoya Akhtar

I had an experience which I could not explain to myself and to others while I was on my way back from a south Mumbai party. It was near Haji Ali. All six of us who were travelling went through this. And this experience which I went through became the vital ingredient of the story of 'Talaash'.