Tillotama Shome as Ratna in Sir and how playing marginalised characters have made her hyper aware of tired cliches of authenticity…excerpts from an interview with Lachmi Deb Roy
Ratna in Sir
I met director Rohena Gera at a farmers market years ago when our respective partners had their stalls there. Mine was selling coffee and hers was selling cake. Little did I know that coffee and cake would lead us to Sir! I received the script of Sir years later during the shoot of A Death in the Gunj. As I read it, I was filled with trepidation for the characters. By the time I finished reading, I was left with a palpable feeling of guilt that comes from being educated but not truly liberal. I was guilty of the same class-bound prejudices that the film turns its gaze on. I just had to be a part of the film and turn that discomfort and guilt into something redemptive, if possible.
The maid
Are two doctors the same? Are two teachers the same? No two human beings are the same and so my preparation for Ratna was to stay away from playing a prototype of ‘the maid’. It was a big house where the film was shot and I realised I would have to walk fast to cover ground. That bought an economy of movement in the way Ratna walked and did things. She had to accommodate her fashion designing aspirations into an already full day of work. She had to work efficiently. Rohena, the director, told me Ratna never loses her sense of dignity, no matter how undignified the situation. That became my guiding post and Ratna’s kryptonite. I took Marathi classes for the role.
The responsibility
My responsibility is to deliver the vision of my director and not betray the trust. Over the years, playing characters that are marginalised have made me hyper-aware of not letting my body and mind give in to any tired cliches of claiming authenticity. The attempt is to find something unique about the character and run with it as honestly as possible. Rohena’s note about dignity was something tangible that I could hold on to and it was freeing because dignity is not a commodity that can be bought by the highest bidder.
Reference and research
There were no references, fictional or real. The fictional imagining was only relegated to the realm of exploitation and titillation, that is, pornography. This absence made me fear how the film will be perceived. But Rohena was well aware of the dynamics of the film being a tightrope walk and dignity had to be the through line and the safety net. The transgressions in the film were carefully calibrated and the gaze always charged.
Lessons learnt
The pandemic was a real leveller. Our prejudices blew up in our face and had to temporarily ‘clean’ our own homes. Perhaps the release of Sir, at this peculiar time and place made my own prejudices more heightened. In my mother’s home now, everyone uses the same bathroom, eats the same food, uses the same cutlery, eats and drinks the same multivitamins and immunity boosters. This should have happened a long time ago, and I am ashamed about the delay.
Life in a pandemic
Well life just took a hard long look at itself the last one year as humanity grappled with the pandemic. The changes are hard for me to articulate as I don’t have sufficient distance from it, to talk about it with any sense of clarity.
Missing mainstream
They don’t come to me. I said yes to both Hindi Medium and Angrezi Medium. From where I stand both were mainstream films.
