People Just Want A Great Story

Tisca Chopra recently made headlines for playing an ordinary woman with a vengeful side in a short film that went viral. Nikita Sawant chats with the artiste who’s changing the script for women in Indian cinema.

- Nikita Sawant

Whether she’s rocking an Anamika Khanna cape dress at the Femina Women Awards or surprising the paps in a Namrata Joshipura jumpsuit, Tisca Chopra always catches the spotlight with her style choices. Off screen, that is. On screen, she disappears quietly into whichever character she’s playing. The most recent one was Vanita, a lonely woman ignored by an indifferent world, in the short film that Chopra co-wrote and produced, Chutney. Best known for her role in 2007’s Taare Zameen Par, the actor has actively fought being typecast and has created opportunities for herself across platforms. Besides having worked in theatre with industry biggies such as Naseeruddin Shah and theatre director Feroz Abbas Khan, Chopra has also written a book, Acting Smart: Your Ticket To Showbiz (2014), which is a guide for aspiring actors. Chutney was produced under her banner, The Eastern Way, which she set up with friend and business partner Vipul D Shah. We s at down with the actor-writer-producer to find out what’s next.

What inspired you to write Acting Smart? 

I felt that there was no book that told new actors about the business of being an actor. I spoke to Boman Irani, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Anil Kapoor, Raju Hirani, Anurag Kashyap, Imtiaz Ali and all my other dear friends, and used their wisdom to help me write Acting Smart.

Another piece of writing that touched a chord was what you did for your short film Chutney. How has that changed life for you?