James Cameron is behind all my Oscars: Kathryn Bigelow

Her low-budget film 'The Hurt Locker' mauled James Cameron's billion dollar blockbuster 'Avatar' at the Oscars this year but Kathryn Bigelow reveals that it was her ex-husband, who persuaded her to take up the project in the first place.

This years Academy awards were being seen as a battle of exes but the director credits Cameron for her success. 

"He (Cameron) was the one who encouraged me to pursue 'The Hurt Locker' story. He helped me in taking the decision of starting this project. It was him who is behind all these Oscars," Bigelow told PTI in an email interview.

Her film, about a US bomb disposal squad in Iraq, won six Oscars at the Academy awards this year beating 'Avatar, which managed to get only three trophies. Bigelow also became
the first woman to win the coveted trophy in the 82-year-old
Oscar history.

The 58-year-old director is close to the 'Titanic' filmmaker and says she would love to work with him in future.

"I respect him a lot. We have worked on many projects in past and are very open to work together again in the near future. He is a great filmmaker and I could have been happier for him and he was happy for me as well. He's just extremely ironic," says Bigelow.

Known for making cult films like 'Near Dark' (1987), 'Point Break' (1991) and 'The Weight of Water' (2002), Bigelow hopes she will be able to inspire young filmmakers.

"Winning the award was immensely humbling. I was on the top of the world that day and can't forget the moment when my name was called for the best director amongst the extraordinary filmmakers like James, Quentin Tarantino, Lee Daniels and Jason Reitman.

"I hope I'm the first of many... I wish that day will come soon when that modifier can be a moot point. But I'm very grateful if I could inspire some young male or female filmmakers and have them feel that the impossible is possible, and never give up on your dream," Bigelow says.

The film is being released in India on April 9 by Multivision Multimedia Pvt Ltd and Bigelow hopes that she fets a good response in the country.

"Is it so?," she asks when told about the curiosity about the movie in India.

"It's good news for us. Based on our marketing strategy we have released 'The Hurt Locker' in phases internationally. After getting overwhelming response from almost everywhere, now it's coming to the second largest film industry of the world, India. As a director and co-producer, my expectations from India are the same," she says.

Bigelow says she was hooked to the story the minute Mark Boal, screenwriter and co-producer, told her about the life of a bomb technitian in Iraq.

"It was a true script that simultaneously strips down the classic American war epic and broadens its concerns to encompass themes as universal as the price of heroism and he limits of bravery in 21st century combat," she says.

But the thing that she found most challenging was getting inside the heads of these soldiers and bring out the emotional intensity of the job on screen.