Zoya Akhtar: Here are 7 things that we bet you didn't know about the 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' director

She said, “I have a phobia. I have a serious phobia of rodents. I don’t even like white mice, hamsters.”

The director recalled an incident where she got stuck on a rat mat saying, “It (a mouse) came in and my friends started lying to me that there’s nothing. And my other friends saw it and I just ran into my bedroom and locked my door. It was in the kitchen and living room area. I called pest control the next they, they pest controlled it, didn’t tell me where they’ve put rat mats and I got stuck on the rat mat! It was just ridiculous!”

On dealing with ghosts, Zoya mentioned, “If you’re feeling scared, like eerie scared, play disco. Disco dispels ghosts. Like you cannot get scared of ghosts if disco plays. Play Abba, or play Disco 82 or play Dancing Queen and you won’t be scared of ghosts at all.”

Talking about expermineting this with her brother Farhan Akhtar, she shared, “We were really stupid. We were in my mum's room, from my mother’s room there’s a long corridor and then it goes into what used to be our room. And at that time there was a terrace in the middle which was open. So at night, it was all trees and the moon and we’d live on the sea. It was all quiet and nobody there and eerie. And my mother was like this is ridiculous, please go to your room, I’m not escorting the two of you. So we used to sing loudly and run through the corridor. But disco is the remedy for ghosts.”

Zoya recollected, “You know Karan was promised a trip abroad for his birthday and something happened workwise with Yash uncle and they had to cancel last minute and Hiroo aunty, I remember, called my mum saying Karan was hysterical! He was distort when his holiday had been canceled and he was like ‘I want to be in a hotel’. So Hiroo aunty checked him into a hotel and we went to swim and hang out and spend the day at the pool and basically chill with him because it was his birthday and he had had a meltdown! Karan was a South Bombay kid so for him Juhu was abroad. I still can’t get over the fact that he had a meltdown and was checked into a hotel! This is Karan at like 11 maybe.”

Zoya is still addicted to the game Candy Crush. She confessed, “I haven’t in a while and I do it mainly on shoots (Candy Crush). I’m on level six hundred and something.”

Already having the embarassed look, Zoya shared, “I had a press conference and I fell down on stage! Because I was in a skirt, dude. And there was this genius on stage and someone told me please sit and I went to sit and he pulled the chair off from under me! I did my whole thing, after that, I was really upset. I’m like ‘aap kya kar rahe ho, aap ne kyu kheecha khursi?’ And he’s just staring at me.”

Zoya is not exactly an alcoholic, but her expert comments will make you feel like she knows about her drinks too well. She revealed, “I drink very little alcohol. I only drink wine, beer, and champagne. I’ve never had hard liquor, I've never had a whiskey drink in my life. I just don’t like it. But when I discovered tequila, it’s a very happy drink. Tequila makes me very, very happy. You can have a small tequila with a lot of club soda and lemon and it’s delish! And the one thing I’ve learned about tequila is that If you drink only tequila, you have no hangover. You’re clean as a whistle, baby!”

Zoya talked about the moment she was trolled when talking about men. She said, “I was telling Ankur that boys like mysterious women and I want to be mysterious. And he was like you can start by not telling people this!”