Meeting Shekhar Kapur turning point of my career: Cate Blanchett

Blanchett played the British queen in Kapur's 1998 period drama and its sequel 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age'.

New Delhi: They had many "happy fights" during the making of 'Elizabeth' but Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett, who is in India to attend a sumit, says working with Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur was a turning point in her career.

The 46-year-old actress, known for her strong roles in english movies and theatre world, played the British queen in Kapur's 1998 period drama and its sequel 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age'.

She was here to attend the summit-- 'Women in the World'.

"I am a passionate lover of history. I was passionate about the history of the Elizabeth. Shekhar is also like that. He was more excited about the fact that an Indian and Australian, who were once colonised by British, are recreating their history.

"We had many healthy and productive fights. I think when everyone is in agreement, creative art can be a little bit monotonous. But I must say that meeting and working with Shekhar is the turning point of my career," Blanchett said in a discussion with the summit founder Tina Brown here.

'Elizabeth' is considered Blanchett's break-out performance in Hollywood. The actress subsequently went on two win two Oscars -- best supporting actress trophy for her role in 'Aviator' and the best actress trophy last year for her role in Woody Allen's 'Blue Jasmine'.

Blanchett's latest big screen outing 'Carol', revolving around the relationship between two women in the New York of 1952, is once again garnering Oscar buzz. The movie is based on the novel "The Price of Salt" by Patricia Highsmith.

Comparing her film to Deepa Mehta's 'Fire', Blanchett said 'Carol' too spoke about a similar gender relationship.

"Carol is about two females falling in love with each other in the era of 1950s. I didn't have to bring much psychology to my character because the novelist Patricia Highsmith and the film's scriptwriter did a brilliant and interesting job. The film also shows the age difference between two women. It's like 'Fire'," she said.

Married to playwright and screenwriter Andrew Upton for 18 years, the Australian beauty said she likes to collaborate with her husband because he is a strong, creative person.

"He is deeply private and he is somebody with whom you could have critical dialogue with. You could hold his hands, sleep with him and have children with him. And that's what I did. We run a theatre company together and he is somebody who is not threatened by what I do. He is the strongest person I know," she said.

Blanchett also adopted a baby girl in March in the family of three boys.

Asked what was the reason behind the adoption, Blanchett said, "We had been thinking about it since my first child was born. I thought we had enough space to have a fourth child. But biologically we didn't have the provision to have the fourth child. It's been a remarkable thing to have her in our home."