Filmmaker Zoya Akhtar says exploring places and cultures with friends make her life exciting, adding that in the future she wishes to film something in Singapore that could be a visual treat for Indian cinegoers.
"Poetry, literature, food and friends -- there are so many things that make my life richer. In this post-lockdown world, where you are trying to find or create a new self to forge a new lens to look at life, the things you truly love are your greatest allies," said Zoya.
Sharing how she always loved showing a different slice of culture and outdoor activities in her films, she recalled a tough experience. "My paranoia for heights literally made me freak out while filming in a small plane for the sky diving sequence (in her 2011 hit, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara). Then I did one underwater scene, being completely claustrophobic," she shared.
Zoya recently had a conversation with the Singaporean filmmaker Boo Junfeng. She expressed her desire to shoot at least a sequence in Singapore, while conversing with Junfeng, and he suggested that Zoya should shoot their traditional event the Hungry Ghost Festival -- a Chinese festival during which, it is believed, the gates of hell open. Throughout the month, the streets of Singapore are filled with incense and offerings to the netherworld, and street-side concerts where the front rows are left empty for the ghosts.
