Tannishtha Chatterjee - Want to be part of women-centric films

Her tryst with Bollywood started two years back and actress Tannishtha Chatterjee, known for playing off-beat roles, says she wants to build up her career on women-centric films.

The actress, who has starred in various international projects besides regional and Hindi films, says she does not want to be part of a typical song-and-dance film.

"I don't aspire to become a typical Bollywood actress. I want to be part of interesting cinema that deals with various women-centric issues. I don't relate myself to the commercial
films here.

"But, I must say that in the past few years the Hindi film industry scenario has changed. With Vidya Balan's 'Kahaani' and 'The Dirty Picture', India has produced some best women-centric films in the mainstream," Tannishtha told PTI.

The actress will be seen playing the lead in filmmaker Mangesh Hadawale's "Dekh Indian Circus", which is a metaphor for rural India's struggle to access the better economic
conditions of city life.
For the film, Tannishtha has put on weight and learnt the dialect of the state to play a village woman. The film also stars actor Nawazzuddin Siddiqui opposite her and is slated
for an October 7 release.

"It's a simple story of a poor family, showing how a woman struggles to meet the ends. She tries hard to take her kids to nearby village to watch a circus. The entire film is a
journey.

I have gained weight for my character and Mangesh had also asked me to learn the dialect of Rabri community from Rajasthan," she added.

Being born with a non-film background, she started her career in films eight years back with alternative films like "Swaraj", "Road, Movie", "Brick Lane" and "Shadows of Time".

The NSD graduate says she did not do commercial films because she did not find the content interesting. "I am a trained actress and my vision of looking at a script is different. In the near future, if somebody offers me a commercial film then it should be beyond song and dance.

It should be character driven like we had in 'Vicky Donor'. With such films, the thin line between the commercial and mainstream films have got blurred," she said.

The actress is a trained Hindustani classical singer too. She would be seen lending her voice for Aditya Bhattacharya's "Bombay's Most Wanted".

"I play a bar singer in the film, so I have sung three songs in it. All three are typical bar numbers. I had sung for 'Page 3' and 'Road, Movie' also. Almost in all my films, I have sung one or two tracks but I haven't thought of taking up singing as a serious profession," she said. PTI