Urban alienation a global phenomenon: Tannishtha Chatterjee

By Juhi Chakraborty New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) Her upcoming film "Island City"tells the story of three people dealing with loneliness in abig city and actress Tannishtha Chatterjee says urbanalienation is a phenomenon prevalent all around the world. The 35-year-old actress says there is no escape fromloneliness in the modern times and that is why the movie hasbeen lapped up at various film festivals that it has travelledto. "’Island City’ has many layers. The whole paradox ofliving in a place which is so crowded yet no one looks atanyone. We don’t know who our neighbours are but chatting withpeople who are miles away and are faceless. We don’t even lookaround and connect," Tannishtha told PTI during a visit here. "Urban loneliness is something people relate to all acrossthe globe. That is why a film like this could strike a chord atall the festivals it has been to. Every city has lonelypeople." Ruchika Oberoi makes her directorial debut with "IslandCity", which has travelled to 26 film festivals. It wasscreened at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, whereRuchika won the FEDORA prize for the Best Young Director. Tannishtha’s section in the film is an ambiguous lovestory that starts when she receives anonymous love letters withlines like, "Only I see your beautiful soul." "She is the invisible person. Nobody gives her anyattention and then suddenly one day an anonymous letter comesand things change." Tannishtha says the director has beautifully used visualhumour to tie three complex stories. "Ruchika ties all the complexities in a beautiful waythrough humour. It is very difficult to tie three stories likethat through humour, which is not language related but veryvisual. It has a humour in the story and in situations itself." Praising Ruchika, Tannishtha says she was uncompromisingas a director and that is why the film has turned out to be theaway it has. "The three stories are visually and stylistically shotcompletely different. That is interesting and it will engagethe audience. It has been shot at multiple locations. Icongratulate her for having the right dream and for gettinglapped up in her very first attempt." Ruchika is all praise for her film’s stars- Tannishthaand Vinay Pathak, saying her work was minimalised during themaking of the film as the actors would come prepared and wouldknow exactly what to do in the scenes. "Although my crew was not experienced, my actors wereexceptional. Vinay and Tannishtha brought so much of theirtraining and their art to the film. There were times I didn’tneed to direct them. They would just come and do it themselvesthe way I needed it." "Island City," produced by National Film DevelopmentCorporation (NFDC), also stars Amruta Subhash and will releaseon September 2. PTI JCHBK