“YOU CAN OVERCOME FAILURE THROUGH PERSISTENCE AND CONVICTION”

Meghna Gulzar, 44 Filmmaker, mumbai

MEGHNA Gulzar became the first female filmmaker since Farah Khan

(Dilwale, 2015) to enter the coveted `100-crore club with Raazi. And she did it without a male superstar and with a far more accomplished and moving film. Cowritten by Gulzar, the espionage thriller about an Indian spy in a Pakistani household stayed clear of jingoism and sloganeering to present a flawed female protagonist. Getting her biggest success pleases the filmmaker. “For me, success is a manifestation of the approval of the people, a validation of the work that you are doing,” she says.

Daughter of writer, director and poet Gulzar and actor Rakhee, she didn’t have the easiest of starts in Bollywood. Her first feature, Filhaal, 2002, received a lukewarm response, and her second film

Just Married, 2007, failed to make an impression. Motherhood took Meghna on a brief hiatus but she continued writing stories. She struggled to get a green light until Vishal Bhardwaj intervened and offered her the opportunity to direct his script inspired by the investigation of Aarushi and Hemraj murder case. With Talvar, she started her second innings and hasn’t looked back since. With two back-to-back acclaimed films, all eyes are on what she does next. There are three projects in the development stage but she doesn’t know what she will do next. She is sure of one thing though. “You cannot appreciate, relish or cherish success without failure. And you can never take success to your head, because of failure,” she says.