IN The spoTlIghT
Performer and actor ingénue, Tannishtha Chatterjee is the new face of alternative Indian cinema on the international stage. By Juhi Baveja
The world of cinema can often be polarising, where actors find themselves choosing sides, either alternative or mainstream. Tannishtha Chatterjee straddles both worlds with ease. One of the most recognisable Indian faces on the international film circuit, she has starred in everything from Brick Lane (2007), Bengali National award-winning Swaraj (2003) and the Keira Knightly-starrer Anna Karenina (2012) to Road,
Movie (2009). And this month, she plunges back into Bollywood with the much-anticipated Gulaab Gang, a true story based on a group of women vigilantes fighting injustice in central India. The actor, 32, shot to prominence with the lead role in Brick
Lane (2007), an adaptation of author Monica Ali’s award-winning novel about an immigrant Bangladeshi housewife caught between her old life and the new in London. Born in Pune and raised in Delhi, Chatterjee majored in chemistry, only switching streams after attending a workshop at the Capital’s National School of Drama in 2002. “I left for Europe soon after and fribbled away my time touring with musicians, singing in beat-up bars, and generally living like a gypsy,” recalls Chatterjee. Starring in improvised plays in England, she went in for casting calls that her theatre friends religiously pitched for her.
Chatterjee did various Indian-international co-ventures; however, it was her first big international project, Shadow of Time( 2004) by Oscar-winning director Florian Gallenberger, which got her many audition calls—one of which turned out to be bigger than she
thought. “I was the first person to audition for Brick Lane (2007), and Sarah Gavron (the director) was really impressed by my reading. However, she told me that I was too young and didn’t have the right look for the role,” she says. “It took me a few days to find out that the movie was an adaptation. I felt stupid after because it was such a big project.” Chatterjee was asked to come in for a second call (for which she dressed up in a sari) after over 500 women had been auditioned, and was eventually chosen for the part. What followed were a series of international projects, like the Martin Sheenstarrer docudrama
Bhopal: Prayer for Rain (2013), on the Bhopal gas tragedy, and the grandiose Anna
Karenina ( 2012) starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law. “Director Joe Wright had shortlisted me for a movie earlier, but it was shelved. So this time, I was the first person to be called for casting—it was a small role of a Romanian gypsy girl. But it was such a prestigious project that I would have come on-board for any part.”
She is vocal about her preference for international projects, solely based on the fact that she prefers complexity in the scripts that she chooses. “I’ve grown up touring the world thanks to my father’s job as an army officer, and relate to the cultural diaspora that my movies focus on,” she says. But the recent success of indie projects led her to rethink her position on Bollywood. After moving back to India to set up base in Mumbai in 2011, Chatterjee did a series of Indian projects that have won her critical acclaim on the international film festival circuit, the last being Dekh Indian Circus (2012), for which she won a National Award (Special Jury Award); it was showcased at the Cannes Film Festival this year. “Dekh Indian
Circus— in which I play a villager who is facing obstacles to educate her child—was a taxing project. Firstly, we were shooting in Jaisalmer, and it was peak summer. My director made me run around in the mud for over 40 minutes everyday to get used to the rustic life. I was the only one to train with a dialect coach to get the accent right, as t he rest of t he cast consisted of locals and Nawazuddin (Siddiqui), who plays my husband, was a mute,” she reveals. Chatterjee is also thrilled with her latest film in which she shares screen space with stalwarts Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla, “Gulaab Gang was an easy movie to choose because of its women-centric bent, given that Bollywood rarely has stories with strong women protagonists.” And despite having worked with many international stars, alongside Dixit was still a rewarding experience for her. “She is completely professional. I think that her immense body of work has given her more patience; a quality I immensely admire.” Clockwise from left: Dekh
Indian Circus (2012); Shadow of Time (2004); Bhopal: Prayer for Rain (2013)