5. Deepa Mehta

Deepa Mehta is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter who is famous for her works which mainly explores the cultural taboos and traditions that exists in India. Her Elements Trilogy-Fire, Earth and Water made her one of the most promising and acclaimed film makers and helped her to achieve several prestigious honors like Genie Awards and Lifetime Achievement award by Loyola Marymount University. Her movie ‘water’, which revolves around the lives of widows at an ashram in Varanasi released in the year 2005 won numerous awards and was nominated for the Oscars as well.

Her 1996 movie, ‘Fire’ is one of the first ever Indian movies, which boldly discussed the topic of homosexual relations and following its release in India in 1998 there were protests by various organizations in the country.

Mehta who holds a degree in philosophy from Delhi University started making short documentaries after completing her course and came up with her debut ‘Sam and Me’ in the year 1991.