The Night Manager Fame Tillotama Shome On Struggle In Bollywood: After Qissa, I Had No Work For Two Years

Tillotama Shome is reprising her role of RAW agent Lipika Saikia Rao in the final chapter of The Night Manager web series. Directed by Sandeep Modi, it will release digitally on June 30. The web series also stars Anil Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur. The Free Press Journal caught up with her for an exclusive chat. Excerpts:

What made you say yes to The Night Manager since you are very choosy?

I am not choosy at all, I do the work I get. I haven’t said no to work but an illusion has been created about me. Honestly, I didn’t get much work. It has changed only in the last three years. I started my career with Monsoon Wedding in 2000 and work was very far and few. If my film would get an award in a competitive International fest, then it would get a distribution around the world but not in my own country.

Go on…

I have to develop patience and understand that this is how it’s going to be. Even after doing Qissa (2013), I had no work for two years. So people perceived that I was choosy but I never had offers to choose from. People could not imagine me in different roles and I only waited. It all began from the success of Sir (2018) for me. Since it was an independent film with no stars but it did well on its own merit. It did change the game for me. Else, it would have been difficult for directors like Sandeep Modi to offer me Lipika in The Night Manager.

How challenging was it for you to play a RAW agent?

When I was told that she is a RAW agent, I wanted to know what their day is like. My character has more of a desk job rather than going on field. It required her mind to follow complicated leads. I also had to train in combat since you have to. The show opens and you see Lipika being quite an ordinary woman, who works in the corridors of power. For this character, it was important how she approaches men she works with. It was important for Sandeep to show the body of a pregnant woman in a manner that she doesn’t look helpless.

Do you believe that OTT and theatres can co-exist?

I don’t think that anything is constant. I shot my first film on 35 mm. People have to survive. The last few years have been challenging due to the pandemic. I don’t think so we should be making big statements that this is how it’s going to be. Right now, the industry is trying to figure out how we can survive in the best manner possible. I owe my first 20 years to films and I am very grateful. As for OTT, I thank all the writers, who are able to write unique characters and that’s why actors like me got a chance.

Do you believe that Hindi Medium (2017) was a game changer for you in a mainstream commercial format?

The casting director Honey Trehan was very keen since he was the producer of Konkona’s (Sen Sharma) film A Death in the Gunj (2017). He saw me working there and he told me that there’s a perception about me that I only do independent cinema. Hindi Medium was set in a different budget and had a mainstream audience for it. I am so thankful to him for pushing me since it opened up the world a little bit for me.