/> Deepa Mehta is back home in Toronto after the Oscars experience. "We didn't get the Oscar. But it's an experience me, Seema Biswas and John would never forget.

We met the most important people in Hollywood all of whom seemed aware of Water. For me the fact that Indian cinema is now being perceived as more than just the song-and-dance exotica is very gratifying. "

People have compared Water to Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali. "That's very gratifying," says Deepa. "The quality of humanism has come across in Water, and that's the quality that counts in today's cinema. "

Deepa Mehta is more shocked than amused by filmmaker Kunal Kohli's contention that he'd rather have Rang De Basanti win over Water because Water deals with "problems...that happened a hundred years ago. "

Laughing uproariously Deepa responds, "I haven't watched Kunal's cinema. But I'm sure he's gifted and intelligent. He should know cinema or any relevant art is about reclaiming traditions and other legacies of the past.

In fact all the five films that were nominated in the Best Foreign Language category this year were situated in slice of the past from a specific country and culture. Caste and gender discrimination are the two issues that occupy Water. They've as much relevance today as they did a hundred years ago.

Is Kunal saying that films with a sense of history and tradition should be rejected? Water wasn't appreciated in the West because it peddles Indian mysticism to the West. "

Deepa is truly hurt by the attitude of disdain that has been thrust on Water by some filmmakers in Mumbai. "I'm surprised they haven't embraced it. "

She won't be in India for the release of Water on March 10. "I've a script to write. My next film Exclusion again goes back into the past. By some people's logic I'm already excluded from Oscars," she signs off with a significant chuckle.