Tannishtha Chatterjee: I find it very difficult to work with people who are not good actors

National Award winner actress Tannishtha Chatterjee has already wowed us with her sterling performance in a number of films such as ‘Dekh Indian Circus’, ‘I Love New Year’,’ Gulaab Gang’, ‘Bhopal: A prayer for Rain’ and now she will also be seen in ‘Gour Hari Dastaan’ and also a romantic comedy ‘UnIndian’ opposite Brett Lee. We bring for you an exclusive interview with this powerhouse of talent, the dusky beauty Tannishtha Chatterjee.

Q: Tannishtha Chatterjee,  you were born in Pune and have lived in different parts of the world, you are at present settled in Delhi. Can you describe your journey from Pune to Bollywood?

A: Coming from a academic family I never had a dream of being an actress,  it happened in course of events as I was into theater and music, they were a part of my extra curricular activity. My father is an engineer who has worked in eminent electronics companies. My mother an academic worked in an university as a political science professor, so acting was never in my radar. We are academic people.

Q: You are a classical vocalist and has sung for most of your films, you even collaborated with Jocelyn Pook at the Royal Opera House in London. How was your experience working with him?

A: Jocelyn is one of the most exciting composers that England has today. It was great working with such an eminent composer and the live performance at the Royal Opera House in 2010 added to the excitement. It was an out of the world experience for me.

Q: How was your experience on working with a star like Martin Sheen in ‘Bhopal : prayer for rain’?

A:  Martin is an excellent person,  a great human being obviously fabulous actor, working with him was really a humbling experience.

Q:  Tell us about your upcoming movie ‘UnIndian’ with Brett Lee, how was your experience shooting with the    versatile cricketer cum actor cum singer?

A: ‘UnIndian’ is a fun film, a romantic comedy. It  breaks a lot of cliches, how they looked at in the west.  When you look at the trailer, it seems there are same old lines that are being said but in the movie they are the one liners but the next sentence adds meaning to it. My character Meera falls in love with Will(Brett Lee).  It was fun working with Brett and the entire Australian unit. The movie was shot in Sydney.

Q: What are your  other upcoming projects in 2015.

A:  My other projects are ‘Gour Hari Dastaan’ releasing on 14th August.  Next is ‘Island City’ by  Richika Oberoi premiering in Venice Film Festival. Next i will be going to Toronto for  Neena Yadav’s Parched that will have it’s world premier in Toronto,  after that to Sydney for ‘UnIndian’ release.
Q: We have seen you working in women centric films , Any plans of entering mainstream cinema?

A:  Women centric film (hahaha), which is what 90 % of films are. But I think it is changing now, as more women directors and writers are coming into the industry, they are writing scripts differently. Also the male directors  are making films with women and writing women characters differently ,  ya I am doing all kinds of films at present.

Q: Who is your favorite actor?

A: I don’t have one but I have many from the previous generation,  obviously  I  like the Khans. Apart from the Khan trio , I like Saif Ali Khan and Irrfan Khan too. among the younger lot I like Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and Nawazuddin Siddiqu , they are people who are doing a lot of different type of work,  They are a lot of  favourites that I have among the the women, I like Deepika Padukone,  Vidya Balan and , Kangna Ranaut.

Q: Do you have any godfather from Bollywood who helped you get into Films?

A: You would have known, if I had any. I  come from the world of  academics  and engineers, but no godfather at all, which is why I had to take international route through casting agents  and all

Q: How was your experience on working with Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Dekh Indian Circus?

A: I worked  with Nawazuddin Siddiqui in three film, it is always fantastic to work with great actors. I have worked with very good actors like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Irrfan Khan and Abhay Deol, very early in my career, so I find it very difficult to work with people who are not good actors.

Q: Do you wish to work with the Khans?

A: YES! Who doesn’t want to?

Q: Tell us more about your family.

A: My father was an Engineer, my mother used to teach Political Science and later she became a homemaker, my sister lives in New York and shes doing a PHD program from Columbia University, my brother in law teaches electrical engineering, I have a dog called ‘Sultan’ whom i love a lot. Well that’s about my family.

Q: Acting or Singing? what do you enjoy the most?

A: There is no preference as such, music is a more evolved art form I think, it the most spiritually evolved art form because its very regular yet its universal. For me music is more personal.