'Humour in Island City will touch viewers'

Intelligent quotient

Tannishtha Chatterjee, who has featured in films like Brick Lane, Road and Shadows of Time, feels that content-driven, small budget films need some-kind of validation to get noticed by the audience, which, she says, comes from winning awards at international film festivals. “Despite being high on content, small-budget films always struggle to draw viewers to cinema halls, whereas it is easier for mainstream films, that boasts of popular stars,to generate attention among audience,” says Chatterjee.

“So it becomes extremely important for small-budget films to get some kind of validation to generate confidence among viewers, and that comes from winning awards at international film festivals. It is also a way of telling that the film has been accepted and celebrated globally,” she adds.

Her upcoming film Island City too falls under the same bracket. The film, directed by Ruchika Oberoi, has won the prestigious FEDEORA award for Best Debut Director at the 72 Venice Film Festival 2015. It was also selected for 26 international film festivals.
The 35-year-old is actively and aggressively promoting the film, something her fans don’t see her doing often. “This is an intelligent comedy and the humour in the film will touch viewers. I want more and more people to watch it,” she tells Metrolife.

“I play a Gujarati girl in the film. The character is extremely boring to begin with. She has nothing going on in her life until she meets an anonymous person on day and her life changes drastically,” she adds.

Without revealing much, Chatterjee says that her character is in search of someone who would understand her. “Many people living in the big city have this ardent desire to meet someone who understands them. They might be surrounded by people, but there is a deep sense of loneliness within,” says the Angry Indian Goddesses actor.

“My character deals with the subject of psychological realism,” she adds.

The film also stars Vinay Pathak and Amruta Subhash and is slated for pan-India release on September 2.