The men we see on screen have changed: Zoya Akhtar

"I was young and till then I had a certain perception of what constitutes as cinema. Till I watched 'Salaam Bombay'. That switch that you can make what you want happened with that film. I try to make movies I can watch," she said. 

Akhtar, who was at the Indian film festival of Melbourne, also discussed how the representation of men and women on silver screen has changed over the years.

"The men who we see on screen have changed. Their stories and their characters are today far different. Look at Vicky Kaushal in 'Raazi', it was such a beautiful character. And the credit goes to Meghna for it, because she could write this part. We are trying to project men who we want to see on screens," she pointed out.

"The characters you create have to go deeper than the surface. You have to show what's not seen before. There has to be nuances. The idea is to create a psychology that will connect better with the audience," she added.

Zoya is currently working on her short film for Netflix's upcoming anthology "Ghost Stories".