Is the younger generation more ambitious? Have career goals replaced the need to have a relationship or get married? What does the Indian woman want? Are people of the younger generation emerging from their insular lives? Do you find yourself asking questions like where is this all heading and do you seek answers through religion or spirituality? These are just some of the thought-provoking questions that film-maker Anu Malhotra bombarded me with within minutes of her arrival. The din of the quaint little coffee shop seemed to fade away as we continued bouncing ideas and thoughts of each other. And what about Indian men? She smiles, "I don't blame them. They have been caught in a bit of a time warp and have not been able to evolve as fast as the Indian woman."

A small frame and a soft voice cannot conceal the fact that there is something remarkable about her. A quiet confidence, an ease perhaps. But she is in fact quite claustrophobic in cities preferring the starkness, the barrenness of nature…the lack of civilisation of the outdoors. Malhotra began her career in advertising and considers herself lucky for having figured out at an early age that she wanted to express herself through media. At a time when TV for us was just Doordarshan, Malhotra was busy conceptualising and planning ahead. "I am probably one of the pioneers who helped mould TV or programming to the way you see it today."

In 1994, Malhotra began making travel shows. In the days of no books, no lonely planet and of course no internet to refer to, she based all her trips on nothing but research. A string of hit travel shows and a few successful documentaries later she joined Haath Se Haath Milaa, a project by the BBC that Malhotra undertook to help spread AIDS awareness. Speaking of the sudden spotlight thrown on her she says, "It's good to get such a positive response to your work, but it's not an overwhelming feeling because for me the best reward is the process," a principle that seems to spill over to other aspects of her life.

Is this serious film-maker tempted to try her hand at a commercial project? Yes, is her quick reply. Not one but two. Based on her diverse experiences of a larger India, the real India, she wants to bring to the people, "small town values we seem to be losing out on."