An Indian scholar of film studies, as well as a professor and former dean of the School of Art and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Graduating from the University of Delhi in 1978, she went on to receive a doctoral degree in cinema studies from the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University in 2005. She also taught as visiting faculty at the School of Arts, Columbia University, New York, USA; the University of Pavia, Italy; and the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.