Bhumi Pednekar, who has featured in a short film themed love and lust helmed by Zoya Akhtar, says that working with the filmmaker has been empowering for her.

Talking about the short film, Bhumi told in an interview: "The theme of the film is 'love and lust'. I think I am very privileged to get a chance to work with her (Akhtar). She is so brilliant to work with. It is empowering to work with a woman this strong and clear."

Bhumi says this was the first time she shot with a woman director and that it was very refreshing and easy. "Her thinking is so different... I think Zoya is a genius and it's an honour and privilege for me to work with her," she added.

This is the first time Bhumi has worked in a short film and she describes the experience as "different". "Because I think when you do a film like this, you can experiment a lot with yourself. You can break boundaries and sort of break a lot of stereotypes, technical and creative clichés that happen to be in our films. It is complete freedom of creativity in a format like this. It was a great experience. I have had such blast shooting for this film," she said.

After her debut film 'Dum Laga Ke Haisha', the 27-year-old made a list of filmmakers she wanted to work with and Akhtar was one of them.

"She has always been on my wish list. I did it because she was making it, and then I read the script and then I thought 'There is no way I am letting go of this'," Bhumi added.