No complaints, only gratitude: Zoya Akhtar on 'Gully Boy' Oscar campaign

Zoya Akhtar's "Gully Boy" could not make it to the final Oscar nomination list for the Best International Feature Film category but the filmmaker looks at the entire campaign with gratitude rather than disappointment. Starring Ranveer Singh in the role of a budding street rapper, the movie failed to make the cut in the top-10 movies that will advance to the next round of voting at the 92nd Academy Awards. Zoya said she has learned a lot during the promotional campaign for the film.

"There was a huge learning. It was exciting because I have got many, many good things out of it. I'm not going to deny that a lot of good things have happened to me. There are no complaints, only gratitude," Zoya told PTI on the film's campaign. The filmmaker said she is not disheartened by the result as she has learnt to take both happiness and disappointment in her stride.

"This has encouraged me to do what I do. We are born and bred in this business, you have ups and you have downs. You cannot let the ups go to your head or the downs go to your heart. Because I'm here to stay. I'm here to make movies. My job is to take every experience and get better with it. I have to do that, I have no choice. My first fim didn't do well, doesn't mean I'm going to cry. I'm just going to make a better film, then another better one and so on," she added.

Zoya has come on board for "Ghost Stories", a horror anthology directed by Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee and Karan Johar. The film features an ensemble cast of Mrunal Thakur, Avinash Tiwary, Janhvi Kapoor, Raghuvir Yadav, Sobhita Dhulipala, Vijay Varma and Pavail Gulati. "Ghost Stories" will stream on Netflix from January 1.

On the professional front

Zoya Akhtar's next film 'Ghost Stories' starring Jahnvi Kapoor and Vijay Verma will release on Netflix. The anthology film is a follow-up to the streamer''s 2018 movie "Lust Stories". Zoya's short marks her reunion with Vijay, who worked with her earlier this year in "Gully Boy". The film is produced by RSVP Pictures and Tiger Baby, the makers announced in a statement

(WITH PTI INPUTS)