I was one lucky girl to debut in Monsoon Wedding: Tillotama Shome

She made a memorable debut in Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding (2001) as Alice, the maid who gets hitched to the wedding planner. In the two decades since, TILLOTAMA SHOME has had noteworthy screen-outings like Qissa (2013), A Death in the Gunj (2016) and Sir (2018). Her next, Deep6, which is set in Kolkata and also stars Chandan Roy Sanyal, will premiere at the forthcoming Busan Film Festival.Q. What got you interested in Deep6?Madhuja Mukherjee, the writer-director, was my point of interest. She was the co-writer of Qissa and we have known each other since then. I loved her screenplay. It questions what is real and what is not. Also, past and present smash into each other and make the future almost impossible. It was, also, perhaps the best-looking screenplay I had seen, with painting references for a lot of the scenes.Q. In the past, you have talked about being used to the idea of your films not releasing in India. Did Sir’s OTT release change that?It definitely got us into people’s homes in a way that we had never experienced before. It felt like a glitch in the system, as if the algorithm had momentarily been hijacked by the audiences’ love for an independent film. It was heartwarming. It has definitely changed things for (Vivek) Gomber and me in ways that we are so grateful for.Q. Your debut film, Monsoon Wedding, released 20 years ago. Any memories that stand out of making that film?I was one lucky girl to debut in Monsoon Wedding, which was shot on film. Every take was a concerted effort where a large group of people rehearsed and, then, at the call of ‘action’, became one organism that had to breathe together. What a high! Little did I know then that this would be precious nostalgia soon after. The move to digital created so much debate and discussion, but one adapts and evolves.Q. How do you look back on your career, 20 years on?A wild and beautiful start that opened me not just to the world of cinema but also made me curious about the world. There was a lot of self-exploration, travel, long spells of unemployment, but then when a job did come, it was such a fantastic project that it made the wait worthwhile. I got used to this rhythm of social hibernation where I nourished myself during long periods of preparation for a film, the eventual shoot and then a long wait to release. Now that the wait is reduced, I feel very spoilt and sometimes even rushed.Published By: Vishakha SharmaPublished On: Oct 2, 2021 00:40 IST--- ENDS ---

Download App

Get 37% off on an annual Print +Digital subscription of India Today Magazine

I was one lucky girl to debut in Monsoon Wedding: Tillotama Shome

Shome's Deep6, which is set in Kolkata, will premiere at the forthcoming Busan Film Festival

**Q. What got you interested in Deep6?**

PUBLICATIONS

TELEVISION

EVENTS

RADIO

GAMING

USEFUL LINKS

PRINTING

WELFARE

DISTRIBUTION

SYNDICATIONS

WEBSITES

EDUCATION