She is among the finest actors in Indian cinema... and the compliment is not new to Tillotama Shome. While it seems like her roles are effortless, the actor insists that like others, she faces her own challenges to make it appear so. “I am not at ease, I am always struggling with some aspect of the character, mostly the language. If you sense an ease, perhaps, it is the ease of a duck, gliding through the water, but paddling furiously for life beneath,” says Tillotama, who spent some of her growing years in Bengaluru.
She has had consecutive critically acclaimed projects – Kota Factory and Tribhuvan Mishra CA Topper recently. In CA Topper, she portrays the character of Bindi Jain. What she loves about the character is her unapologetic nature in seeking sexual pleasure. “It was liberating to play a woman who can ask for what she wants. If asking does not work, then she is one who can fight for what she wants. I hope by playing these strong fictional women, I can become better at asking for what I want,” says Tillotama.
The series also stars Manav Kaul, whom Tillotama calls not just a nuanced actor but also a brilliant co-star. “There was an impromptu dance sequence we shot in a lodge. And I froze. Manav sensed it and just jumped in by breaking down the steps very clinically and made it so simple for me to pick up that I actually had fun,” she recalls.
In her previous release Kota Factory, she plays Pooja didi, a teacher, which is very different from Bindi and even Lipika from The Night Manager, which is an Indian derivation of Olivia Colman’s character in the original series. Any actor would now dream of having such a career trajectory. “I am so lucky to get to play these women and am so grateful to the directors who placed their faith in me. The hardest part was the two-decade wait. Patience was the hardest to cultivate,” she says, adding that it also helps her that she does not take it seriously when her roles are termed ‘intelligent’. “Even those who feel that way are not being serious. We are entertainers, not saving lives. An artiste is allowed to fail. In fact, one is not working for audience acceptance, although it’s great when that happens though,” she adds.
Having mostly been seen in web series in recent times, Tillotama is looking forward to working on a full-fledged film. “It has only been these web series so far; thank God for them. But it’s been a while and I want to make a film. I miss it. It is, after all, where it all started for me with Monsoon Wedding,” she signs off.