Her debut feature film, Salaam Bombay! (1988), was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1989 Oscars and won the Camera D’Or and the Prix du Publique at Cannes
Is the first woman to receive the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival for Monsoon Wedding (2001)
Monsoon Wedding was shot in 30 days
Established a filmmaker’s lab, Maisha, to support filmmakers of East Africa and South Asia
Has a degree in sociology from Harvard University and is currently a professor of film at Columbia University’s School of the Arts
Her highly anticipated film, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012), was the opening film for the 69th Venice International Film Festival