Apart from his cinematic genius, Shekhar Kapur's significant contribution to Hindi cinema would be the discovery of Seema Biswas. This small town girl from Assam won a National Award for her very first movie Bandit Queen in 1996.

Right from the start, she gravitated towards strong woman-oriented films. Unlike other contemporary actresses, Seema picked up challenging and strong character roles and went from strength to strength giving superlative and powerful performances in off-beat films.

With the wish to make her characters appear authentic, Seema Biswas got into the skin of each character. For the role of Phoolan Devi in Bandit Queen she practiced smoking, for the role of a deaf and mute woman in Khamoshi: The Musical she learned the sign language and for a small role of a mentally retarded woman in Pinjar she met mentally challenged people to understand body language. She even created a foothold in regional cinema with her Malayalam films Shantam and Vivats. The film received a great response in the south won her several awards and rave reviews.

With consecutive years, Seema Biswas become synonymous with intense and powerful onscreen women characters in films like Govind Nihalni's Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa, Chandra Prakash Dwivedi's Pinjar and Water by Deepa Mehta. In an industry that clamours for stars with glamorous looks, Seema Biswas carved her own niche.