I want an Oscar, says Zoya Akhtar

Zoya, who portrayed a darker side of Bollywood in her directorial debut is now being touted as one of the directors paving the way for the new wave in Hindi cinema. However, the film-maker believes that she has a long way to go and many dreams to capture, one of which is to win the Oscar. "Oscar means a lot. It is the highest possible film award right now. As a filmmaker I do aim to win it one day. I do not think there is a single filmmaker who has not thought about it," Zoya told reporter. However, many from the industry are of the view that the Oscars are not the ultimate recognition for Indian cinema.

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan has opined that the Academy Awards should not be considered the "ultimate recognition" for artists. Bachchan had added that Oscars are basically Hollywood awards and should be viewed that way. When referred to the same, Zoya said, "Of course we do make films for our audience but to say no one has ever thought about winning an Oscar, that is not possible. Everybody has thought about winning one including me," Zoya said.

The filmmaker was recently in the city at the 11th Osian's Cinefan Film Festival to share her thoughts on the new wave of Indian cinema, comprising of young directors like herself. "There have always been directors who thought out of the box. It was just that a lot of them did not have the money and the chance to make their films. So its nothing great what we are doing. It is just we have more avenues for funding and the audience who wants to watch our kind of films," Zoya said.

She credited this new development to the audience, multiplexes and producers who are ready to invest in novel ideas. "Today the producers are ready to invest in new ideas which they think will fetch audience. Then we have more spaces (multiplexes) to exhibit ourself. Moreover, with the coming of liberalisation, satellite channels there is a new stream of audience as well," she said.

Zoya, daughter of noted lyricist Javed Akhtar, said that she is a thorough film buff who has enjoyed every decade of Indian cinema. "Indian cinema has always been very progressive. The 50's were very progressive. The decades of 60s and 70s had this huge wave of independent cinema and then 80's and 90's became funky with the blockbusters," Zoya said. The director is set to helm a road movie as her next project, which revolves around three guys undertaking a trip to Spain. The film will have Zoya's brother, actor Farhan Akhtar playing one of the leads.