EXCLUSIVE Interview! Not Just Bollywood | Tannishtha Chatterjee: ‘Unlike series films can never do well on OTT'

Following it’s successful world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival 2023, Wendy Bednarz’s directorial debut feature, Yellow Bus was shown at MAMI 2023 in Mumbai. Firstpost’s Lachmi Deb Roy caught up with Tannishtha Chatterjee, who plays the main protagonist of the film. For Tannishtha cinema is changing because cinema professionals are changing. Y__ellow Bus is an emotional rollercoaster, exploring themes of loss, betrayal, and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit through processing a life-changing loss. The film is a poignant drama starring Tannishtha Chatterjee and Amit Sial, in lead roles. Tannishtha believes that films can never do well on the digital platform, the way series does. Edited excerpts from the interview: What was the process of getting into the film _Yellow Bus_? I got a call from Guneet Monga with whom I had worked before. She was actually doing this co-production with Jordan and so I read the script. On one hand I felt that this was such a fantastic role and I had also become a mother a few years back. I adopted a little girl. So, I understood the space and the emotional turmoil that she is going through. Better. On the one hand I felt that and on the other hand, I also felt oh god it’s so traumatic. Do I put myself into these shoes, but finally the greed of the actor in me took over and then I got into it? Then I met Wendy, the director of the film. She has lived in the UAE for a long time, she is an American and teaches cinema operations at NYU. So, I met her on zoom and understood how she is looking at the character. We bonded over different levels. She is a mother and an artist also. She was an actor and a model who went to film school and started acting and directing. We hit it off at a very different level and then I was on board. It was an arduous and really tough journey to play _Anand_a. It wasn’t easy. How much do you relate to the character of Ananda, since you are a mother? I think the basic emotions, the guilt, the pain and coming to terms with the loss, obviously I related to it. In fact, when I was reading the script, I put myself there and felt that if this happened to me, what would I have done. When I read the script for the first time, I cried at so many places and was devastated too. On the other hand, I felt that should I let myself and put myself through this torture. But finally I agreed to be a part of it because the story was brilliant. Cinema is changing and there are so many meaty roles for women… and not just about women being good, they are being vulnerable too. What are your views on this new change? That is because cinema professionals are changing. Now we have a lot of women directors, writers, producers. So, the world view of women is also getting a chance. And obviously OTT has opened up stories which are diverse and the kind of stories that we can watch from different parts of the world which is most importantly accessible. OTT Vs theatrical releases… I can never enjoy films on OTT. Cinema as a language is very different and OTT is more intimate and dialogue oriented. Its plot oriented, it is not visual oriented at all. For me the series format does well on OTT, but not films on digital platforms. Cinema on OTT just doesn’t work at all. A lot of old filmmakers are complaining because they are not able to adapt to this new medium because films have a different language of storytelling. How difficult is it to get a film to a film festival? It is tough. Even after getting into a big festival like Cannes, Berlin or Toronto, it doesn’t get picked up for the right distribution. It’s difficult to create a buzz.   It’s a very crowded and cluttered market. It is difficult to navigate through all this too. Audience is also ruthless and you are competing with films all over the world. There is a lot of change in the subjects of the films today, the depth that they are going into and the fearlessness. I am simply amazed. There was a time when there used to be a lot of Indian presence in the international film festivals during the era of Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen. And then there was Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta, who we cannot consider as Indian filmmakers. Their subjects are Indian, but they are actually America and Canadian filmmakers. Then there was Shekhar Kapur to some extent, after that there was a lull for quite some time. Now we have a good presence of all Indian filmmakers. It’s a beautiful change, but tough too because to get noticed and get distribution is not easy at all.