Margarita With A Straw has been garnering rave reviews all across the globe. The movie which is inspired from the life story of director Shonali Bose's cousin sister Malini's life story throws light on cerebral palsy and how people affected by the disorder can enjoy all pleasures of life including sex. The movie which has been actively promoted by Aamir Khan opens in theaters today. We got into a chat with Shonali to know more about her movie.

Tell us about cerebral palsy?

Not many people know about cerebral palsy. It is not a disease or any other kind of illness. It's a disorder that affects your motor skills and muscle coordination. It's a disorder that happens at birth. My cousin sister Malini was born with it because the umbilical cord strangled her leaving less oxygen flow to her brain. We tried admitting her in schools but found out that there was only school in Colaba that was available for people with special needs. Only speech and muscle movements are affected.

How did you choose Kalki to play the lead role?

My co-writer and co-director Nilesh Maniar had seen a picture of Kalki and found her illuminating face and energy she radiated similar to my cousin Malini. We were however skeptical considering that Kalki's Hindi has an accent and she is fair. Earlier we had chosen Sarika as Kalki's mother and they both would have looked as mother daughter but Sarika's dates didn't match. Then we sat down and thought that since speech would be garbled accent wouldn't be a huge problem and the fairness can be assigned to a North Indian connect. We then called Kalki and gave her the script. She like it immensely but said she was terrified. She had not much idea about cerebral palsy and to help her prepare for the role I gave her a few dvds to watch of people with cerebral palsy. We then took her look test and found to be perfect.

Are sexual needs of disabled people largely ignored?

Absolutely, when I asked my sister on her 40th birthday as to what gift she wanted, she said that all she wanted is to have sex. That was an eye opener for me and I thought there is a story that needs to be told here. We are always in denial mode about their sexual desires. I have had parents of autistic children come and tell me that their children are teenagers and with hormones raging they feel the need to masturbate but don't know what is appropriate or not. A father of an autistic child from Toronto after watching the movie asked me if he needs to arrange for a sexual partner for his 25 year old autistic son. So it is good that such conversations are now taking place. Talks about sexuality and sexual needs are never a part of our drawing room conversations even for able bodied people.

Why is the movie called Margarita With a Straw?

When Malini and I used to go out for a drink, we used to carry this small plastic tumbler that normally kids use to drink water or milk. Now Malini is a bigger drinker than I am and her favourite was whisky and soda. So when I used to ask the waiter to fill the plastic cup with whisky and soda, Malini used to look shocked. 'Why are you infantalising me,' she would ask. Somewhere down the line we have this tendency of infantalising disabled people. So that remained in my subconscious and when I finished writing the first draft  I used words like whisky and soda with a straw and wine with a straw but it didn't sound nice. Margarita being my favourite drink rhymed well and so we chose the title. Also straw in the title represents empowerment. Also Margarita has a deeper meaning in the sense that when life hands you a lemon you can either be bitter and sour or better still make a margarita which has lemon and tequila and raise a toast to life.