'Female foeticide, domestic violence and dowry are the three biggest problems that the women of our country face today. I feel very sad when I hear about the killing of female foetuses,' Hema, who has two daughters, told.
'Since I am an artist, people come to see my dance and if I start lecturing them about female foeticide they might not listen to me. So I thought why not convey the message through dance. And we (Hema and her daughters Esha and Ahana) started working on a video condemning killing of female foetuses.'
The video is likely to be launched next month.
'We would first introduce it through our dance ballet Parampara. Depending on its impact we would convert it into a 45-minute video. The rest depends on the ministry of women and child development, how they put it on air - via TV or in theatres,' said the actress who has been seen in socially relevant films like 'Baghban' and 'Babul'.
Music director Ravindra Jain, one of the most renowned composers of the 1970s who churned out hits like 'Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se', 'Chitchor' and 'Ram Teri Ganga Maili' (1985), has given the music for the video.
Nearly a million female foetuses are believed to be aborted every year in India - a country known for its male preference - which means over 2,700 girls die every day before even seeing the light of day.
'Along with the primary education, every girl child must be taught about women's rights, at least once a week. Because once they graduate from school they face an ugly world. Even girls from rich families go through bad experiences.'
Hema is the brand ambassador of Kent RO, a water purifying system and was in the capital to promote it.
The veteran actress, who churned out hits like 'Johnny Mera Naam', 'Seeta Aur Geeta', 'Sholay', 'Charas' and many more in the 1970s, also said that more awareness must be spread amongst women, about their rights to help them tackle social evils like dowry and domestic violence.
'Once women know their rights, they would have less difficulty in dealing with problems like domestic violence and dowry.
'Also, according to our Indian culture, after marriage women have to bear all sorts of tortures without any complaints. But it is high time women came out of it. Every woman must feel proud to be a woman.'
On the film front, Hema wasn't very happy when director Ram Gopal Varma decided to remake the 1970s cult film 'Sholay', directed by Ramesh Sippy.
And now director Raj Sippy is all set to remake his 'Satte Pe Satta'. In the film Sanjay Dutt and Rani Mukerji would slip into the characters played by Amitabh Bachchan and Hema, respectively.
Commenting on the trend of remakes, she said: 'I am happy that most of my films are remade. Rani is a good actress and I am sure she will do justice with the role. In fact, more than what I did.'
'However, I wish someone remakes 'Razia Sultan' just like 'Jodhaa Akbar'. Esha must play the lead role...how can I take someone else's name.'