IFFK 2025: Actor-director Tannishtha Chatterjee on her film ‘Full Plate’, ongoing battle with cancer and her craft

While interacting with Tannishtha Chatterjee connected the sidelines of the International Film Festival of Kerala successful Thiruvananthapuram, 1 could spot that she was successful symptom arsenic she kept pressing her near shoulder. “There has been nervus harm from radiation. It volition get better, if not a 100 percent. Right present I americium successful a batch of pain, truthful I person been popping painkillers,” says the actor-director who was astatine the festival with her sophomore diagnostic film, Full Plate, a homemaker’s heartwarming travel of self-discovery wherever nutrient and cooking go the tools for it.

In August this twelvemonth Tannishtha announced connected her societal media grip that she has been battling signifier 4 oligo metastatic crab for the past 8 months. The histrion whose filmography is dispersed crossed aggregate genres and languages, immoderate of them being films similar Shadows of Time, Brick Lane,Dekh Indian Circus, Parched, Angry Indian Goddesses, Doctor Rakhmabai, UNindian etc, was diagnosed during the post-production of Full Plate.

The film, which premiered astatine the Busan International Film Festival this twelvemonth and has since past travelled to aggregate festivals, is astir a Muslim homemaker Amreen (Kirti Kulhari), parent of 3 and woman of a compounder astatine a wellness clinic. She plans to enactment arsenic a home-cook since her hubby (Sharib Hashmi) cannot enactment temporarily owed to a fractured leg. Her hubby is unhappy astir it. Also, galore are reluctant to springiness her a occupation arsenic she wears the hijab. Thanks to her neighbour Saritha, she is employed by a couple, Parul and Vinod (Monica Dogra and Indraneil Sengupta), who are vegans. Amreen, an astonishing cook, struggles since the cooking method and ingredients are alien to her. But she yet settles in, overmuch to the chagrin of her husband, who becomes insecure. The movie explores however Amreen navigates situations involving her employers and misogynistic hubby who resorts to home violence.

Tannishtha says that the movie is inspired by 1 of her location help. “Even erstwhile she couldn’t find a job, she refused to instrumentality disconnected her hijab. She was employed by a vegan couple. She had nary hint astir what to marque for them with what she called angrezi sabziyan (English vegetables). Her maestro dialog was, Itna mehenga khaana khaane ke baad bhi, didi ko anxiousness hain, bhaiya ko acidity (despite eating specified costly foods they person anxiousness and acidity)! I instantly wrote that down, which I utilized successful the movie. I started talking to her, visited her spot and understood her household dynamics, particularly however ambitious she was astir her son. The characters are precisely similar what I person observed.”

The artiste stresses that portion penning the movie she did not unreality her caput reasoning astir whether her views would annoy anyone, particularly portion handling a delicate taxable similar faith. “I judge that what you deterioration has thing to bash with freedom. While making Yellow Bus, I worked with a unit from the Middle East, mostly women. Some of them had hijabs and I saw that it had thing to with however they wanted to presumption their freedom. My content is that women riding bikes, smoking cigarettes, wielding a weapon oregon wearing Western apparel does not basal for liberation. It is her prime if she wants to beryllium similar that. I privation to observe femininity that nurtures. That thought comes from the attraction and emotion I person been getting from each my pistillate friends implicit the past 1 year. I person respective antheral friends who person stood by maine but sisterhood is different. I don’t privation to suffer it,” she says referring to her biggest cheerleaders, including Shabana Azmi, Vidya Balan, Sandhya Mridul, Tanvi Azmi, Divya Dutta, Konkona Sen Sharma, Shahana Goswami, Dia Mirza, Richa Chadha, and Urmila Matondkar.

She adds, “Amreen’s travel is besides feminine. She does not bash thing rebellious. But she softly says that she won’t tolerate battle immoderate more.” Kirti was her archetypal prime for the role. “I liked my location help’s spunk. She was gangly and looked similar a model. I instantly thought of Kirti and called her adjacent earlier I started writing,” she says. She did workshops with the actors, familiarised them with the milieu, the manner of the assemblage and Kirti adjacent went done immoderate cooking sessions.

Reflecting connected the film’s ending, which mightiness travel crossed arsenic rushed and simple, Tannishtha says, “As a writer I wanted to instrumentality a formation successful the end. Being a creator, I similar to prime a communicative and bash thing with it, which makes the communicative engaging, starring to discussions.”

Full Plate has a mainstream vibe astir it, with the music, colours, frames, gait et al. “That was a deliberate decision. I wanted to support the layers and the nuances that travel successful the penning without making it obvious, preachy and declamatory and yet bring successful thing that the assemblage volition bask watching and subordinate to.” The movie has galore LOL moments, particularly Amreen’s disorder successful Parul’s room and the country wherever she discusses the meaning of the presumption unfastened matrimony and homosexuality with her neighbours having heard the aforesaid from Parul.

Tannishtha adds that astatine the infinitesimal she prefers to beryllium successful a blessed space. “I americium warring thing which is terminal. I americium a azygous mother; I request to supply for my 70-year-old parent and nine-year-old daughter. We artistes cannot expect to person a dependable income. There is truthful overmuch to instrumentality attraction of…everything is simply a chore, it is simply a fight. Add to it the carnal symptom and discomfort. But I person humoured it done and through. When my parent says thing depressing, I hug her and accidental ‘this is an acquisition successful life. What is beingness without experiences? Ma, you are getting richer.’”

She admits that it is not casual to support up her spirits. “Everyone cannot bash it but I tin due to the fact that I americium an artiste. I americium a performer. In fact, I americium presently moving connected a play connected bosom cancer, Breast of Luck, a philharmonic drama I person co-written with Sharib, whose woman is simply a crab survivor. We some are acting successful it. We decided to speech astir everything – women, body, breasts, men, their obsession with it, illness, love, healing etc.”

The speech veers to the relation she enjoys the astir — actor, writer oregon director. “I bask everything. Performance gives maine a carnal high, it is cathartic. Acting is simply a unusual profession. It is fascinating, surviving truthful galore lives successful 1 life. My penning comes from experiences arsenic an actor.”

But past she has ever been identified with what they telephone parallel cinema. What is her instrumentality connected that? “I studied astatine the National School of Drama (NSD). And I person this tegument tone,” she says, pointing astatine her dusky complexion, adding, “So I get formed successful peculiar benignant of movies. I americium not saying I enjoyed those films. I did not get the accidental to beryllium explored successful different benignant of cinema.”

Tannishtha mentions that due to the fact that of the benignant of roles she does, she was expected to marque a movie connected those lines. “Many were amazed with the contented of Full Plate. I whitethorn enactment successful those films, bringing successful the nuances. But erstwhile I americium penning oregon making thing I deliberation differently.”

Having been portion of the IFFK respective times, Tannishtha says that she has immense respect for the assemblage here. “I ticker Malayalam films and adjacent met Jeo Baby astatine the festival this year. I loved The Great Indian Kitchen. Right now, Malayalam cinema is conscionable flying high.”