After more than 60 films in a three-decade career, actress Shabana Azmi now wants to work with her stepson, director Farhan Akhtar.

"I am really looking forward to working with Farhan some time," says Azmi in an interview on the sidelines of the ongoing Asian cinema festival. "I know he understands and respects my work and will offer me something challenging."

Akhtar, the maker of this year's much-acclaimed "Lakshya", is the son of Azmi's poet-lyricist husband Javed Akhtar from his first marriage. Azmi said she liked Farhan Akhtar's work and the films of his contemporaries.

"These new directors are breaking all the Bollywood commercial traditions and are still doing very well."

She said with the coming of multiple-screen theatre complexes, or multiplexes, in India, directors have the liberty of defining their audience.

"Take someone like Farhan - he only caters to the urban, educated city film viewer. He doesn't have to cater to the lowest common denominator, not the Hindi hinterland, not the villages.

"That's a great freedom, you are not getting bogged down trying to cater to everyone. The myth of a pan-Indian audience has finally disappeared."

Daughter of celebrated poet Kaifi Azmi and actress Shaukat, Azmi had become a major star by the time she was in her mid-20s with films like Shyam Benegal's "Ankur".

Later she also acted in John Schlesinger's "Madame Sousatzka", Roland Joffe's "City of Joy" and Tony Gerber's "Side Street".

"I was very lucky, I came to cinema at a time when some of the biggest art house directors were making some of the most important films," said Azmi.

"And I worked with them all. Mrinal Sen, Gautam Ghosh, Aparna Sen, Satyajit Ray - each and every one of them, and now I'm getting all these interesting roles from a new set of directors, all eager to experiment and who are breaking the stereotype of the young heroine.

""So I'm getting powerful roles again. Incredible!" laughed Azmi, the winner of several national and international awards.

Her next films are going to be playwright-filmmaker Mahesh Dattani's "Morning Raga" and the Canadian production "Betting for Love" being directed by director Deepa Mehta's former assistant, Rajiv.

In "Morning Raga", she plays a Carnatic music exponent who grapples with Western trance music.

"The most challenging part of 'Morning Raga' was learning how to sing. For a north Indian like me, the nuances of south Indian music were really tough to absorb," said Azmi.

"But I just had to do it, otherwise I would have never been able to play the part."

She will one day direct a film but isn't sure what it'll be about. "No subject has yet grabbed me. I'm thinking a lot about it. But it won't be a cause. No. It'll just make its own statement."