You should have a powerful story and a sensitive director who can bring it alive on screen. Remember the yesteryear's directors like Hrishikesh mukherjee (recently passed away) Basu Chatterjee, Gulzar, Anil Ganguly....etc. They worked with some of the biggest stars and made beautiful films on shoe string budget.
Examples: Hrishikesh mukherjee made chupe chupke with a top star cast...amitabh, jaya bhaduri, dharmendra, sharmila tagore
He made : Jurmana and Bemisal with amitabh, rakheee and vinod mehra, namak haraam with amitabh and rajesh khanna...
Basu chatterjee made Dillagi with Dharmendra and Hema
Manzil with amitabh and moushmi....
Gulzar made...mausam with sharmila and sanjeev kumar,
kinara with dharmendra, hema and jeetendra..
so many examples..