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2008-07-02

Interview: Tannishtha Chatterjee

Summary

Hurling a Brick Lane

Article

In director Sarah Gavron’s Brick Lane, Tannishtha Chatterjee plays Nazneen, a Bangladeshi woman who finds her freedom through loss.

Based on the popular book by Monica Ali, Nazneed was forced into marriage at a young age. Years later she exists with her husband, Chanu (Satish Kaushik), and their two daughters, 14-year-old Shahana (Naeema Begum) and 10-year-old Bibi (Lana Rahman), in London’s East End. A docile wife to a buffoonery husband with illusions of grandeur, Nazneen finds flight from the daily humdrum through the letters she receives from her younger sister back home, Hasina (Zafreen).

As her husband sinks lower in the social status-phere her passion for romance goes hight when she meets Karim (Christopher Simpson) a younger man who embraces a more radical form of Muslim as a result of increased attacks against his community pursuant to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

As both men and her daughters vie for her love, Nazneen begins to find the courage to shake off the shackles of patriarchal oppression and find her own identity.

A superb performance by one of India’s few popular-and-serious actors, the very sweet and smart Chatterjee sat down with us recently to talk.

Los Angeles Journal: Why did you want to play the lead in this film?
Tannishtha Chatterjee: What appealed to me the most was that it was a universal story. Although it is set in a particular culture, milieu, it doesn’t have to be specific to a South-Asian story. It was more of a love story and story about a woman’s journey to find her identity. The second thing that was that Nazneed was a character very introvert and shy so to find ways and communicate herself without saying much and without expressing much; it’s all inside. As an actor I found that very challenging. How do you play a character who doesn’t talk much or express much? Also a lot of times with woman stories like this it ends with her becoming more westernized and Nazneed doesn’t do that.

LAJ: I imagine there was a lot of communication with the Sarah and director of photographer Robbie Ryan so you could rely on the camera to pick up these nuances.
TP: Absolutely, John. I enjoyed a very intense and collaborative process with Sarah. We worked out those things during rehearsals and arrived at a certain point in ever scene.

LAJ: What do you have in common with Nazneen?
TP: [Laughs]. That’s a tough one. Human beings are trapped in some ways or another. We all strive to find our voices and our freedom. I like the last scene. She’s free but there’s a sense of loss and melancholy. When we achieve that freedom we strive for there’s that sense of loneliness.

LAJ: Is there anything more specific than the existential angst?
TP: [Laughs]. Not specifically her experience. I had to do the research. I had to meet women in Brick Lane who’ve gone through similar experiences: who were married at 16; who came from small villages in Bangladesh; who came here and didn’t understand the language; and who were trapped in a particular flat for many years, to scared to go out due to a fear of the unknown.

LAJ: You mentioned freedom. One of the leitmotifs of the film is that everybody lives in their own prison.
TP: Right. Chanu lives in his own world where he thinks he’s the greatest master in English, he knows more than everyone else, but they get the better job. Karim is trapped in his own world where Islam is his own identity. In that sense Nazneen is a far more balanced character. She thinks through herself. That’s why I like the ending.

LAJ: Another aspect of the film is that people are always searching for love, even when they appear to have it. This search leads them toward a new prison.
TP: That’s true. In a broader sense this film is about different love stories. There is spousal love, immediate love, maternal love, Nazneen’s love of her sister, love for one’s old country, and romantic notions of love.

LAJ: The film also addresses dichotomies between different types of cultural strains, or restraints: England and Asia; man and woman, freedom versus tradition, education versus religion, generation gaps. As a professional actor working both the east and west how are these worlds coming or departing for you?
TP: The good thing about artists is that we do travel a lot and we do communicate a lot with different artists from all over the world. We watch films and theater, listen to music. We probably communicate far more than other people do. For us the worlds are less apart. Obviously there are cultures and people and there are political boundaries and history that does give specificity to different places. But in the last seven years I am traveling a lot and more and more I see airports, shopping malls, multiplexes, etc., looking the same. In a way it’s like you feel comfortable everywhere but in another way the specificity of culture is diluting. The whole charm of visiting a country is not like it used to be. If I enter a shopping mall in Los Angeles, London or New Dehli it doesn’t really look any different. You have the same shops, clothes and the same American films [Laughs].

LAJ: The notions of race and geography are becoming diluted as well.
TP: Yes, it’s becoming more multicultural, mixed races. It’s still demarcated so it will probably take another couple of generations. English as a language is becoming more universal. When I land in France I might not speak French but I can have my way around.

LAJ: What are the primary differences for you between working in India and Europe?
TP: For films here I need more prep time. I need to study the characters. For Nazneen I need to research and meet people. It wasn’t an experience I was acquainted with. Whereas most roles in India I have more in-depth experience about those characters. In terms of acting there are distinctive styles. India directors demand far more louder expressions and melodramatic forms than European directors.

LAJ: Lastly, what do you think about interviews where you talk about your work? Do they serve the work? Should the work speak for itself?
TP: The work should speak for itself. This is just a part of one film promotion we have to do. It’s so competitive out there so we have to do it. If you have to push your film. But why is the life of a star seems much shorter now? Maybe one of the reasons is that we overdo the publicity. As an actor you lose the enigma if you’re in the newspapers all the time, talking about yourself, talking about the actor you met, which one you dated. With that you will get about three years [Laugh].