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ShareAmbika Hinduja and Leena Yadav prove that women can do anything that a man does, perhaps even better
One is a scion of the illustrious Hinduja family. Another is a successful director of many television serials. They are as different as they can be. But when the two got together (for a film), they gelled perfectly well. "Sometimes we don't even have to tell things to each other, we just look at each other and know," says Leena.
The two decided on taking none other than Amitabh Bachchan in their film, interestingly called Teen Patti.
"We developed the script together for a year-and-half. I was very excited about it from the beginning," says Ambika Hinduja, who is29 but looks all of 18!
Even though she could easily rely on her billionaire family to fund her projects, this gritty girl actually went around looking for financiers for her first film 'Being Cyrus', ofwhich she was a co-producer.
"I wanted to do things on my own. It was difficult for me because people would think why was I talking to them about money when I could easily get funds from home. They wouldn't understand my need to be independent," said Ambika.
But this time her father (Ashok Hinduja) volunteered to finance her film on his own.Leena had her own bit of struggle till she met Ambika. Her directorial debut, Shabd was ripped to shreds by critics.
"I worked under different circumstances at that point of time. There was a lot of pressure. I am glad that won't happen again," she says diplomatically.
Once the script was ready the duo gingerly went to Amitabh Bachchan to ask him if he would play the lead role.
Leena remembers, "We had decided that if he said no, we would perhaps not do the film at all. That role would have been impossible without him. He just heard the gist of the script and said yes! That was a dream come true."
However, the first hitch came when Arshad Warsi played truant and didn't turn up on the sets. Ambika brushes it off with, "We have survived. No big deal. We can easily manage."
The two women agree that it's fun to be the few women in the traditionally male dominated Bollywood.
Leena said, "Initially it might be tough for some to accept your orders because you are a woman. But after that, if you are good at your job, it doesn't matter. Work speaks for you. Life for a woman might have been tough in Bollywood five years ago, but it's no longer uncomfortable now. Most directors are hiring women assistants because they are much more efficient."
These women should know because while Leena assisted Raj Kumar Hirani, Ambika did it f0r Subhash Ghai.
