Often, filmmakers’ creations are inspired by their personal lives. Renowned chef-turned-director Vikas Khanna’s next, Imaginary Rain, too stems from an intimate part of his life. The film, which is adapted from his novel of the same name, is borrowed from his grandmother’s journey.

Shabana Azmi, who plays the protagonist, begins, “Beeji, Vikas’s grandmother, ran a small restaurant in New York where she was not respected because she was a woman. Also, there was no respect for Indian cuisine at the time. How she goes from there to hitting the headlines of The New York Times [forms the story].”