September 19th, 2007 
Deepak There are few female directors in any cinema, so India’s number, though small, is significant, with notable directors including Tanuja Chandra, Kalpana Lajmi, Vijaya Mehta, Sai Paranjpe, Aruna Raje, Aparna Sen and, recently, Chitra Palekar. Yet when we come to those Indian film-makers known to mainstream western audiences, Shekhar Kapur is alone in the company of Gurinder Chadha, Deepa Mehta and Mira Nair. Chadha and Nair’s films are mainstream movies in the West and their box office returns are comparable to films of other (mostly male) directors. Yet can they be said to be Indian exports? Chadha, who migrated to the UK from East Africa, is certainly part of the British cinema and we regard her, as we believe she does herself, as a British Asian filmmaker, even if she makes films in India. Nair, brought up in Delhi but Harvard-educated, also lives in several places (New York and Uganda in addition to India). However, a deeply Indian sensibility underpins their work, in particular their warm and wonderful depictions of family life. Chadha is at her best when dealing with diasporas, whether Bend it Like Beckham or the much-neglected What’s Cooking?, while Nair’s depiction of street children and wealthy Delhiites are her most memorable. There are two striking features. Why, even when it comes to female directors, is it once again Punjabi culture which exports so well to the West? Second, why is it when people talk of an Indian" crossover film" or making a Hollywood film, do they not notice that there are Indian women doing it already? Are women film directors still invisible?
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