Tillotama Shome: I had to respond to the ‘maid’ comment
I can’t help how you feel about me as an actor, and actually, I don’t care. TILLOTAMA SHOME, Actor
Tillotama Shome has been winning hearts and awards alike for her performances, but trolling on social media is something even she hasn’t been spared from. Recently, the actor tweeted that a hater called her a “flop actress who looks like a maid”.
“I rarely get nasty remarks, at least I’ve not seen them. This one I had to respond to, not for the ‘flop actress’ bit, but for the ‘looks like a maid’ comment,” she clarifies about what compelled her to call out the troll. “I felt the person gave me an opportunity for a dialogue about our deeprooted biases around beauty, class and caste, and its ugly intersections that give birth to such casual utterances of hate and, frankly, stupidity.”
Shome asserts that what people say about her acting skills doesn’t bother her at all. “I can’t help how you feel about me as an actor, and actually, I don’t care. But about this I care. This was meant to be an insult, so it was easier to respond to,” says the Angrezi Medium (2019) actor. Compliments, in fact, are trickier territories for her. “For example, ‘You played Ratna (her character in Sir) so well, that now I’ve the hots for my maid’. Its implications are too insidious and a response on social media would just not be enough,” says Shome, who was recently awarded Best Actress at South Asian Film Festival for Raahgir.
On how much importance she gives to awards, she says, “The news of a win feels like a movie within a movie — a bit removed from life’s reality but yet grateful. Any win is a win for the whole team.”