[6] After graduating in architecture[6] from the University of Science and Technology in Tehran in 1986, she apprenticed as a script girl and an assistant director following a screening workshop in 1979.

[6] Milani states that one of the most important issues in Iran is the inability to express one's true personality, claiming that Iranian men and women lead double lives.

In her later films, Milani adopted a more melodramatic style and focused more on gender issues and her female characters became the subject of intense oppression and discrimination.

[8][6][9][10] A backlash from many world-famous directors including Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese caused the government to release her after two weeks, but official charges were never dropped.

In 2007, Milani announced that she was going to make an AIDS-focused TV series for the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting with the title The Positive Pals Club [13].

[18] In 2019, while organizing an exhibition of her paintings at Ariana Gallery, a major art center in Tehran, Miliani was again accused of plagiarizing four different artists, including Matteo Arfanotti, Sara Riches, Richard Burlet and Masumeh Mehdizadeh.

"[19] In June 2019, Mahyar Bahram Asl, an Iranian graduate student and painter, was sentenced to 35 lashings under the charge of insulting Milani by accusing her of plagiarism.