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Tisca Chopra's Interview
'TV'S NOT A STEP DOWN BUT A STEP SIDEWAYS '
Tisca Chopra, who played heroine opposite Ajay Devgan years ago, is
content with the way her career has shaped up in the last few years,
says Roshni Olivera
After doing the movie Platform with Ajay Devgan years ago, you just
vanished from the scene…
• Around that time I did a cross-over English film and fell in love
with acting. I did Platform for a lark. I didn't like the work I was
getting in Hindi films, so I decided to concentrate on improving my
skills as an actor, and did only theatre for four years. Mahatma Vs
Gandhi, Salesman Ramlal, All the Best, Inshe Allah were some plays
that I did, learning from great teachers like Firoz Khan, Satyadev
Dubey. So I hadn't vanished; I was finding myself.
Some people view TV as a step down from Bollywood. What do you say?
• It is not a step down but a step sideways. A different way of
entertaining. TV has the security of a job, while cinema has the
bigness of one's dreams. I'd love to host a good show on TV,
something on the lines of Oprah Winfrey and do sensible multiplex
films. I've just taken on a few short films for the festival circuit
with new directors.
You are playing a woman who's always in a drunken state in Sarrkkar.
Tell us about the experience.
• Great! Great! Great! This is the reason I love acting; I can be
all those things that I never would be as Tisca — an alcoholic, a
retard, a spy! It was lots of fun because we planned how many drinks
down I was going to be for each scene; two or four or completely
sloshed after six drinks. So
each scene came out different. A definite growing experience. But
now unfortunately my character has sobered down!
What's your dream role?
• That's the strange thing. If I go to see a ballet, I want to play
a ballerina, if I see Star Wars, I want to play Jedi! I have a wild,
vivid imagination. I want to play all things I haven't done before —
a cop, a maharani, a working single mom. But as a role I think Meryl
Streep's turn in Shopie's Choice had tremendous power, Helen Hunt in
As Good As It Gets and I'd love to do a Chandni Bar.
Tell us about your pilot husband… when did you tie the knot?
• Sanjay is, well, in one word, wonderful! Imaginative and really
funny. He cracks me up when I'm pissed off ! Also he has integrity,
a quality I value dearly. He's my harshest critic. He will not let
smallest detail or carelessness in my performance pass by. I'll hear
about it for days. We both have a passion for cinema and writing. In
fact, he's doing a diploma course from London School of Journalism
by correspondence. And, he's really quite a hunk! We've been married
for seven years.
How difficult is it, considering both of you have hectic jobs?
• We manage with some innovation! I fly with him a few times in a
year or so, and if I'm working out of town, he joins me. And when
he's here and I'm off work, then we spend days on end watching
films, playing scrabble or just yakking!
Apparently you're reading a lot of Buddhism these days?
• Yes, I am and have been a practising Buddhist for eight years.
It's a reasonable life philosophy that gives one back strength and
the ability to live with thought and wisdom. Almost everything I'm
today, I owe to this brilliant way of life. It's led me to search my
inner depths for answers and enabled me to live like a winner, no
matter how badly I've failed.
'TV'S NOT A STEP DOWN BUT A STEP SIDEWAYS '
Tisca Chopra, who played heroine opposite Ajay Devgan years ago, is
content with the way her career has shaped up in the last few years,
says Roshni Olivera
After doing the movie Platform with Ajay Devgan years ago, you just
vanished from the scene…
• Around that time I did a cross-over English film and fell in love
with acting. I did Platform for a lark. I didn't like the work I was
getting in Hindi films, so I decided to concentrate on improving my
skills as an actor, and did only theatre for four years. Mahatma Vs
Gandhi, Salesman Ramlal, All the Best, Inshe Allah were some plays
that I did, learning from great teachers like Firoz Khan, Satyadev
Dubey. So I hadn't vanished; I was finding myself.
Some people view TV as a step down from Bollywood. What do you say?
• It is not a step down but a step sideways. A different way of
entertaining. TV has the security of a job, while cinema has the
bigness of one's dreams. I'd love to host a good show on TV,
something on the lines of Oprah Winfrey and do sensible multiplex
films. I've just taken on a few short films for the festival circuit
with new directors.
You are playing a woman who's always in a drunken state in Sarrkkar.
Tell us about the experience.
• Great! Great! Great! This is the reason I love acting; I can be
all those things that I never would be as Tisca — an alcoholic, a
retard, a spy! It was lots of fun because we planned how many drinks
down I was going to be for each scene; two or four or completely
sloshed after six drinks. So
each scene came out different. A definite growing experience. But
now unfortunately my character has sobered down!
What's your dream role?
• That's the strange thing. If I go to see a ballet, I want to play
a ballerina, if I see Star Wars, I want to play Jedi! I have a wild,
vivid imagination. I want to play all things I haven't done before —
a cop, a maharani, a working single mom. But as a role I think Meryl
Streep's turn in Shopie's Choice had tremendous power, Helen Hunt in
As Good As It Gets and I'd love to do a Chandni Bar.
Tell us about your pilot husband… when did you tie the knot?
• Sanjay is, well, in one word, wonderful! Imaginative and really
funny. He cracks me up when I'm pissed off ! Also he has integrity,
a quality I value dearly. He's my harshest critic. He will not let
smallest detail or carelessness in my performance pass by. I'll hear
about it for days. We both have a passion for cinema and writing. In
fact, he's doing a diploma course from London School of Journalism
by correspondence. And, he's really quite a hunk! We've been married
for seven years.
How difficult is it, considering both of you have hectic jobs?
• We manage with some innovation! I fly with him a few times in a
year or so, and if I'm working out of town, he joins me. And when
he's here and I'm off work, then we spend days on end watching
films, playing scrabble or just yakking!
Apparently you're reading a lot of Buddhism these days?
• Yes, I am and have been a practising Buddhist for eight years.
It's a reasonable life philosophy that gives one back strength and
the ability to live with thought and wisdom. Almost everything I'm
today, I owe to this brilliant way of life. It's led me to search my
inner depths for answers and enabled me to live like a winner, no
matter how badly I've failed.
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