'Cancer Has Made Me Shameless And Fearless'

For all you know, in the next five years there could be a path- breaking cancer treatment and I may be absolutely fine.

- Roshmila Bhattacharya

When we reached out to Tannishtha Chatterjee for an interview, she was on her way to Sydney.

"Full Plate, which I have directed, is the opening film at the Sydney International Film Festival and I will be in a flight for the next 18 hours," she tells Rediff Senior Contributor Roshmila Bhattacharya, promising to connect once she was in Australia.

She kept her word, calling for a 'chat', less than an hour before she had to get ready to walk the red carpet.

The gastronomical drama, which stars Kirti Kulhari, Sharib Hashmi, Indraniel Sengupta, Monica Dogra and Sachin Chaudhary, pivots around a Muslim woman, Amreen, a homemaker in Mumbai, who, following her husband's accident, becomes the family's breadwinner. Her journey, while challenging religious discrimination, social conventions and gender prejudices, traces her own evolution, striking a chord with audiences across diverse cultures.

"Full Plate had its world premiere in September at the Busan International Film Festival. "In Korea, we had three screenings, all of them playing out to packed houses, with long queues outside the theatres and several people having to be turned away. That was disappointing, but also exhilarating for us!" Tannishtha exclaims, admitting that she had been apprehensive initially because the film has a lot of gentle humour which she was afraid might get lost in translation.

"But going by the smiles of the people watching and the questions that were asked during the Q&A sessions showed how they had observed and absorbed the details and nuances. I think I've been able to transcend linguistic barriers and geographical divides to communicate what I set out to do with this film." That admission prompts the first question...