Having watched every play of Habib Tanvir that was staged in Delhi from when she was as young as eight, Anamika Haksar's introduction to the "theatre of people" as Tanvir called it, couldn't have come from a better source than the pioneer himself. His plays — many of which were based on indigenous performance forms and included a diverse cast of folk artistes from rural Chhattisgarh and elsewhere, alongside urban actors — were laced with "zameen ki boo," says Haksar.

That earthy fragrance wafts through her own works, whether it is the play, Uchakka, based on the life of people branded as a criminal community since the British Raj, or more recently, her debut film Ghode ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon (2018), which depicts Old Delhi through the eyes of its migrant population and daily wage earners.