The Indian version of The Night Manager, starring the likes of Anil Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Sobhita Dhulipala and Tillotama Shome has been nominated in the drama series category at the 2024 International Emmy Awards. Interestingly, the show was the only entry from India across 14 categories at the nominations.
The news, naturally, has the team on cloud nine. “We got the news one night from our captain, Sandeep Modi (co-director of the show), on our WhatsApp group called ‘the cool kids’. Now, we are neither kids nor cool, but after this news, we felt very cool and were jumping like kids,” recalls Tilottoma with glee.
The actress, who plays the role of R&AW agent Lipika Saikia Rao, played by BAFTA and Golden Globes award-winning English actor Olivia Colman in the original series, found her character to be quite the daredevil and instantly fell in love with her.
“She knows how to walk through patriarchal corridors of power with a sense of impudence and humour. She has no qualms about playing to the massive egos of men in power to get her work done. She is not very diplomatic and hates delays caused by bureaucratic hoops. She is full of surprises as we are not accustomed to seeing women doing action sequences unless they are in spandex,” says Tilottoma, who grew up in Bengaluru.
The actor confirms that a celebratory reunion is on the cards. “There will be a reunion, courtesy of the generous Anil Kapoor. As always he has opened his home, to celebrate important milestones of the project. He is an actor who likes to take everyone along,” says a chirpy-sounding Tilottoma.
The Night Manager will compete with shows like The Newsreader Season 2 from Australia, the French show Les Gouttes de Dieu (Drops of God), and Argentina’s Iosi, El Espia Arrepentido (Yosi, the Regretful Spy) Season 2 in the drama category. The show is an adaptation of John le Carré’s novel and the British show, starring Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, Olivia Colman and Elizabeth Debicki.
The International Emmy Awards will be held in New York on November 25. Apart from this Indian show, it will be hosted by India’s very own comedian Vir Das. Shome hopes she makes it for the award function. “It would be wonderful, to go back as a full-grown professional adult, to a place I called home as a student, under these hallowed circumstances,” says Tilottoma.