EXCLUSIVE | Tillotama Shome: 'I was 30 when I came to Bombay and I was told I was late'

Tillotama Shome is gearing up for part two of The Night Manager. What can we expect from her character this time around? She opens up on the same in an interview with Firstpost. She says, “She’s a woman who’s trying to negotiate through the corridors of power. She’s been working within the system for years, she’s not a newbie, she understands the power dynamic. She’s not naive and has been able to keep a sense of idealism alive. In this part, her idealism is being questioned. You’ll also get to see the obsessive side of her, her obsession with Shelly sometimes becoming manic. It was interesting to bring out that shade as well, she doesn’t believe in following the protocols necessarily. She’s not some crusader with a bleeding heart, she knows what’s real.

The actress added, “In this part, you’ll see that self-doubt, her life being in danger, there’s an action sequence my character has to do and it was great fun with a woman director and woman photographer. Everyone was nervous that day because I have not done much action, Delhi Crime had that. It had to be between adrenaline-rush and real because she’s pregnant and has a certain body weight. It’s not a very exciting life of a James Bond type agent, but she has a basic combat training that you’ll see in this part. And her sense of humor is still intact.”

On relating to her character and becoming temperamental

I don’t think becoming temperamental has anything to do with gender. Men and women both go through changes as they grow older with life experiences and the people they spend their time with. I’m not a mother but I do relate to the middle class upbringing she comes from, she has a life partner who’s very supportive and secure. We all are working professionals so we have to work in a largely misogynistic setup, so she has to listen to men about her work and get it done. She’s hormonal and going through pregnancy, but she speaks her mind and it has nothing to do with her reproductive being. I like the show doesn’t underline her pregnancy and make it seem like a disability. It’s a representation of a female body. She’s more hungry and breaks into a sweat and works in a dusty archive; all this adds up to her idiosyncrasies.

On how she chooses her roles

I don’t have to be too careful. I haven’t refused that much work as it’s made out to be. 95% of what I get, I do. Most of the things I want to do don’t even come my way. I have to relate to the script. I have done a lot of work in the last 2-3 years. I was told it would be difficult to get enough work after my 30s. I was 30 when I came to Bombay and I was told I was late, it’s a Twilight zone. I have more work in my 40s than I had in my 30s and 20s put together. It was not a conscious choice.

On OTT being a game-changer and content changing

I haven’t been working on OTT for too long. My work started after the pandemic and it’s been only a year-and-a-half. There are some breeds of writers in our industry that don’t necessarily come from a film background, but backgrounds that are very diverse, from different fields and disciplines. When they write something fresh, it requires new actors to interpret diversity and that’s why actors like us were needed. They nurture our writers more.

On the writers’ strike in Hollywood

We are far away from it but it’s a need, the importance of a writer. A lot of the work I’ve done, a lot of the show runners have written it themselves. We are releasing the importance of writers. We need to protect their ideas. I feel the change, it’s been quite heartening to see that.

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