Pride and celebration should fill Anuparna Roy’s days, who made history on September 7 as she became the first Indian to win the Best Director award in the Orizzonti section of the Venice International Film Festival. But it takes very little for things to spiral. When we got on a call with Roy on Thursday morning, the director was amused at how her historic win had taken a backseat to her acceptance speech in which she expressed solidarity with Palestine.

“I stand by my words,” she asserted before expressing her disappointment with the ongoing public discourse. “People speculated that I am less Indian and less Hindu [because of my remark]. Some feel I’m trying to get fame out of this speech. I’m talking about justice! As a global citizen, I have to. I have to talk about what is happening in Nepal also. Secondly, I’ve been talking about Palestine since my first film. I stood in Russia and said that I am with Palestine. That doesn’t make me less of an Indian.”