Leena Yadav brought alive shades of life of women in villages with Parched, and the film went on to win 18 awards and was featured in 24 film festivals across the world, including the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.

As the film reached cinema halls in India, critics and viewers were taken by surprise with the bold portrayal of the controversial subject.

Speaking to thestatesman.com, the filmmaker said, “There was no plan that the film should happen like this. The film went to Toronto, and we heard that five countries had bought the film. Everything has its time and the film has its own fate.”

Elaborating on the film&’s “bold content”, Leena said, “The language of emotions is so real. I feel artistes should not have boundaries.”

Did she face resistance from the people around her when she first came up with the subject?

“I don’t know if there was resistance. But, when I decide to make something, I make it. Even if there is resistance, I don’t even pay attention to it. In fact, I got more support than resistance from everybody–my cast and crew–they all came on board willingly.”

It wasn’t easy for the director to make the film as she did not have the budget for it.

“Finance was a huge challenge,” she revealed. “That&’s when Ajay Devgn came on board. He really believed in what the film could do. Starting with pre-production, he gave us money to do what we wanted to do. He linked his name to the project which gave it more weight.”

“All our problems turned into beautiful solutions,” she said, and delightfully added, “Finally, the ones who financed the film were the ones who believed in it. Nobody looked at it from a business perspective. Everybody looked at it as something they really wanted to make and put it out there. “

“It shows that if you have really good content, then you can do anything,” she said with conviction.

How was it to work with Ajay as a producer?

“He wasn’t a hands-on producer. From reading the subject, he left it on my husband Aseem Bajaj to take it forward. If we had any problem in the middle, he used to help out. When we finished the film, he saw the final product and he loved it.”

Ask her why she took such a long time to come up with another project, after a gap of almost five years, she laughed it out saying, “Not long time. I’ve always taken five years.”

“I don’t want to make films for the sake of it – that there should be a film every year. I want to make films that I really want to. Sometimes, it takes time to search what it is that I want to do.”

The director said that now she wouldn’t take that long because she already has the next subject in mind.

“I will be doing a father-son film based in Delhi. It will be relatable, sweet and funny story.”  

Talking about the progress of the film, Leena said that though actors are not finalised yet, she is planning to finish the film by March next year.