Trivia

Niece of Late Guru Dutt.

Mother Lalitha Lajmi starred as herself in Like stars on Earth (2007).

Shyam Benegal is her mother's cousin.

She was an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter.

Her films were often woman-oriented.

She had been for a long time manager with Bhupen Hazarika.

She debuted as a feature film director in 1986 with Ek Pal (A Moment), starring Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Farooq Sheikh. She produced the film, took part in the film writing and had written the screenplay for the film along with Gulzar.

She made her directorial début with the documentary film D.G. Movie Pioneer in 1978 and went on to direct more documentaries like A Work Study in Tea Plucking (1979) and Along the Brahmaputra (1981).

She made her comeback to cinema in 1993 with the critically acclaimed Rudaali starring Dimple Kapadia. Kapadia won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance and Lajmi also won accolades for directing the film.

Lajmi was an independent filmmaker working more on realistic, low-budget films, which are known in India as parallel cinema.