Mumbai, Feb. 21 -- Filmmaker Kiran Rao has been an integral part of the Hindi film industry since the last 23 years. She began her career as an assistant director to Ashutosh Gowariker on Lagaan before going on to become a successful producer. In 2010, Rao made her directorial debut with Dhobi Ghat starring Prateik Babbar, Aamir Khan and Monica Dogra. Well, 14 long years later, Kiran is ready to return to theatres with her second directorial film, titled Laapataa Ladies. But what took her so long?

In an exclusive interview with Desimartini, when asked what took her so many years to return to the director's chair, Kiran shared, "I've been working for the last decade plus on my stories, my own ideas. Some are feature scripts and some are s...