/> They are about to honour her at IIFA as the brightest Indian director abroad.

And Deepa is touched and amused. "All my career I've fought the label of the NRI director. And now when I'm being honoured by my own movie industry I've finally come to terms with the NRI label," says Deepa from Yorkshire.

She's attending the IIFA for the first time. "The most interesting part of IIFA is that I get to meet filmmakers from India. I just attended a symposium on Satyajit Ray along with Rituparno Ghosh and others. It was just so satisfying."

More satisfying still was Deepa's meeting with Mr Bachchan.. "Our meeting was long due. And we needed to sort some things out. There's no way I'm going to exclude him from Exclusion. It's my dream project."

The two have discussed the nitty-gritty of the project. "In principle Mr Bachchan loves the idea. I'd have finished the script if it wasn't for my father's death.

Because of this I'm not up to writing right now and have accepted to direct an outside script (Warner Brothers' Luna) first. But Exclusion with Mr Bachchan is definitely on next."