Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta is not bothered by the tag of "controversial director" any more. The 66 year old, in a recent interview, said, "As a filmmaker you don't think this (controversy) might happen. I have been called a controversial filmmaker and perhaps it is right. But at this point in my life, I don't care about it, but earlier on it used to really offend me."
Her 2005 film 'Water', which was about a group of widows in an ashram, was received with protests when she was filming in Varanasi. Deepa had to later shift the crew to Sri Lanka. Drawing similarities between the problems she faced back then, and what director Sanjay Leela Bhansali was put through during the filming of 'Padmavati', Mehta said, "We made 'Water' in Sri Lanka as when we were doing the film in Varanasi, we got shut down. It is pretty much what happened to Sanjay Leela Bhansali when 'Padmavati' was shut down. Nobody read the script and nobody knew anything and just a group of people felt strongly they were upholding the faith. Same was the case with 'Water' where people had no idea about the film and they felt the film was anti-women."
She added, "I've always been asked why do I make films and I would say why you want to work? For me, the reason is that there are subjects that I am curious to know about and I don't know enough about it be it sectarian war, war in Bangladesh or Pakistan war or gang war or domestic violence... it is all reality of life."
