'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.'
'Or maybe I won't be.'
'I have to live with both scenarios.'

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...

Is there something that has been widely appreciated about Full Plate, your second directorial after Roam Rome Mein in 2019, that has taken you by surprise?

Well, I would say the songs and there are three of them.

(Laughs) I have sung one of them because we had a really tight budget.

There is also a rap composition by Srusthi Tawade, whose Chhota Doni has got 100 million views on YouTube.

It's become really popular with many wondering if the actors are real people.

Are they?

(Chuckles) No, they are all professional actors.

I tried to do a lot of new things with the story-telling which I think has worked, cutting across a cross-section of the audience even in India where they are divided by class, community, region and language.

At Busan, you were adjudged 'Visionary Director' at the Marie Claire Asia Star Awards. That must have been a real high?

I was elated that the film was selected for its world premiere at the Busan film fest.

I was also relieved that under the circumstances, I could finish it in time.

The award was like the icing on the cake. I was numb and didn't know how to react to the honour.

What made it doubly exciting was meeting Maggie Kang, who won the 'Director of the Year' award.

KPop Demon Hunters is such a different film from Full Plate, yet there the two of us were holding our respective trophies!

(With a wry laugh) I was standing there smiling and thinking to myself, 'Okay, so life pushes you down sometimes, but it also pulls you up.'

You made the film under really challenging circumstances...

Yes, making an indie film is itself a challenge because it is so tough to raise money.

Then just after I had finished the edit and the co-producers came in to help us complete the film, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 oligometastatic cancer.

I had just started working on the music and sound design, but was forced to take a few months break. I missed a lot of festival deadlines because of radiology and therapy.

But once I understood the rhythm of my body after going through three cycles of chemotherapy, I returned to Full Plate.

I'm still healing and undergoing treatment, unsure of what the future holds for me, but I have learnt to live in the present and do things that bring me joy.

Given that food plays an important part in the story, did you need any kind of special prep?

Oh yes, I made Kirti Kulhari, who plays Amreen, go through several workshops because the film has almost 20 minutes of chopping and cutting and I didn't want to use a double for her hands.

I wanted a fluid motion that the camera follows as her character moves around.

Fortunately, Kirti is someone who actually spends time in the kitchen, so she was as inspired as me.

I even had a cultural specialist on the set to guide us on how particular families prepared and ate their meals.

Even when it's just a biryani, there is a difference in the look, smell and taste that influences the performance.

I took pains to ensure that the dishes were prepared exactly right for which we have to thank the YouTube videos.

Two assistants were delegated to ensure that the food you see on the screen was fresh, with stale dishes being regularly replaced.

Listening to me, Monica Dogra, who plays Amreen's vegan employer, would admit that these were things she would tell her cook every day.

You seem really passionate about food.

I am a connoisseur; I may not be a great cook, but I love eating.

I travel a lot, and when I'm away from India, I'm not one of those looking for restaurants which serve rajma-chawal.

That I can eat when I'm home, when I'm abroad, I like to sample authentic local cuisine.

Even when I would shoot in remote villages, I would never eat meals on the set, but identify a local and go with the person to their home for a meal.

I have a diverse palette and because of my interest in food and years of experience sampling different cuisines from around the world, I can now identify how good or indifferent a dish is just by looking at it.

During a shoot in Dehradun, I would not touch the biryani everyone was so excited about.

While I acknowledged the chicken was good, I refused to eat the biryani and after tasting it, everyone agreed that it fell way short of their expectations.

Did you ever taste the food that had been prepared for the camera?

Some of it we did. But there were times when after we had showcased the dish from different angles, it was no longer fit to be consumed.

Since I have always been very slim, everyone presumes that I'm on a strict diet, but actually, I'm blessed with a good metabolism and eat everything on my plate.

But now, life has changed and I have been forced to become more health conscious.

During Durga Puja this year, I had to leave my family in the pandal since I couldn't eat the bhog.

You have been an inspiring role model with your social media posts and your sparkling smiles, but initially, the diagnosis must have come as a big blow.

I was devastated!

It was not just cancer, but stage 4 oligometastatic cancer.

Since I am young and the disease had advanced, the doctors advocated an aggressive treatment that took a toll on my general health.

Yet you continue to be so brave about your health crisis.

Believe me, it hasn't been easy.

Your first reaction to a diagnosis like this is, 'Why me? I'm not a bad person so why did this have to happen to me?'

What you need to understand, over time, is that this is not karmic, but physical.

You were not afflicted because of something you had done in the past.

There is no reason, it is absolutely random.

There is a reason to be optimistic because this year, the Nobel Peace Prize in Medicine was jointly awarded to three people -- Mary E Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi -- for identifying the FOXP3 gene that helps in developing regulatory immune cells that prevent the body from attacking itself.

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

Or maybe I won't be.

I have to live with both scenarios.

I have always done things on my own and when I can, I still go everywhere alone.

But that's not always possible now.

My sister was with me for a while, but she lives in New York and had to go back.

I didn't want to take my mother into confidence because she is old and was still reeling from the loss of my father.

That's when I reached out to my friends and they formed a support group, filling in the gap.

They take turns, deciding amongst themselves who will accompany me when I need an escort and have been my emotional anchors all through this journey.

Cancer has made me shameless and fearless.

So often we are afraid to reach out, we just smile and stay silent.

But I have discovered that if you are able to accept and express your vulnerabilities, there are so many beautiful people in the world who will happily be there for you.