Tisca Chopra has a ear for languages and is fluent in nine of them. This skill has come to good use this year, with her having done a film in Marathi ( Highway ) and Malayalam ( Nirnnayakam ) each, before making her debut in Telugu with Sreenu Vaitla’s next, Bruce Lee , starring Ram Charan.
“In the Hindi film industry, we know very little about other language industries. Some world class films are being made in Marathi and Tamil. Coming from the largest film industry in the country, it’s a little embarrassing that we aren’t making many films in Hindi that are of international standards, despite having talented script writers, directors and actors,” says Tisca. The urge to explore stories and characters that offer new perspectives on cinema made her accept films in different languages. “I don’t let language stress me out,” she says.
Tisca says the role offered to her by Sreenu Vaitla was that of a rich, strong, powerful woman. “It’s an exceptional role. I don’t want to reveal more, since it would give away the story,” she maintains. With the help of an assistant director who trains her on the stresses and pauses, she has learnt to speak her lines. “I have visited Hyderabad a few times and can understand Telugu to an extent,” she adds.
On the sets of Bruce Lee , she has made some friends for life. She hasn’t had the time to watch the recent Telugu releases, barring Baahubali . “It was fabulous; I felt I was watching a Hollywood film like 300, ” she says.
Tisca is keen on choosing her regional films with care, alongside her Hindi projects. There’s a conscious shift towards more commercially viable cinema. “I am not keen on arthouse projects,” she affirms. “I want to be a part of films that have substance and style and they have to be commercially viable. In the recent past, I’ve done artistic, small films that did well in niche segments. The films recovered their investments and the producers were happy but the films didn’t reach out to a large section of people,” she says.
The need to reach out is also part of a larger plan, of her producing films. “Producing my own film will give me the scope to try something new. For that, I need to make myself more visible in the commercial space. When a new film is pitched to me, all I look for is a powerful role. I could be a housewife or in a wheelchair, I don’t care. But it has to be substantial.”
Her line up includes Sunny Deol’s Ghayal Once Again , Ram Gopal Varma’s Secret and a Tamil-Hindi bilingual with Arvind Swamy, a remake of the Marathi period drama Kaksparsh .
Books and more
After authoring ‘Acting Smart’, Tisca has been approached by an Australian publisher to narrate her impressions on being a woman in today’s India. “The book is a compilation of stories of 12 Indian women from different spheres. It’s a big honour to be a part of this,” she says.
Tisca doesn’t have an immediate plan to author another full-fledged book. “Acting Smart was meant to be a series of columns, which turned into a book. It was an organic process. At the moment, I am helping with the script for my own production. I don’t know scriptwriting, but I am helping with ideas,” she says.
