It was between shots during a film shoot in Dehradun that a shared passion for music and theatre led to Tannishtha Chatterjee and Sharib Hashmi deciding to collaborate on a two-actor play. “It had to be funny, entertaining and a musical,” the actress reminisces.
Back in Mumbai, the duo decided to brainstorm over coffee, but on the day of the meeting, Tannishtha got her first reports confirming she had stage four oligometastatic cancer. Devastated, her first reaction was to cancel, but then, hoping it would distract her, she decided to go ahead with it. “But I found it hard to focus and seeing me so distracted, Sharib asked if anything was wrong,” she recounts.
After a slight hesitation, Tannishtha opened her heart to him and learnt that Sharib’s wife also had mouth cancer. “He made me speak to Nasreen who even after four relapses was living a normal life like many of her cancer survivor friends. At a time when my whole world had come crashing down around me, that’s what I needed to hear,” she admits.
The next few weeks were hectic and chaotic as Tannishtha debated on her treatment, decided how to handle her young daughter and elderly mother who were solely dependent on her and simultaneously juggled the film — Full Plate — she was directing, which was in post-production. They connected again after she had completed four rounds of chemotherapy and together, Sharib and she started writing a story which grew out of their earlier conversation and revolved around a musician, a banker and cancer.
“On the last day of my chemotherapy cycle, I called Sharib to the hospital, telling him what to wear. Handing my iPhone to my cinematographer-friend Deepti Gupta, I told her to shoot us as we enacted what we had written. It was a lot of fun and we captured some really lovely moments which will be used as an installation for our play,” she informs.
Breast of Luck: Love, Loss and the Market Crash of the Heart opens at Mumbai’s G5A Foundation for Contemporary Culture with two shows each — 4.30 pm and 8 pm — on January 29 and 30. Tannishtha confides that while her mother is happy that she is returning to the stage, is worried doing two shows a day could be too much, too soon. Her daughter, Radhika, who has been watching her rehearse, was really sad when told she couldn’t watch the play till she was 15. “But she has told her friends to send their parents,” her mamma laughs, admitting that unlike her earlier plays, there’s ownership this time with the two actors engaging with the audience for two hours.
Leena Yadav, who directed Tannishtha in the 2015 film Parched, has helmed the play. “She is the first person we read the draft to and Leena immediately wanted to direct though she had never directed a play before. Sharib and I agreed because it was important to have someone who was sensitive to material which is deeply personal,” she reasons.
With cases of reproductive cancer on the rise, the personal subject has become universal. “We have ourselves moved beyond cancer to touch on issues like body image, femininity and self-confidence,” says Tannishtha, recalling how initially she would get livid seeing pictures of herself bald, till it was gently pointed out to her that this was how she looked after chemotherapy. “Even Nasreen
confided that there were times she would wonder why she couldn’t have contracted any other cancer but mouth cancer. Leena has treated the subject tenderly and empathetically, music giving it a lighter touch, while retaining its emotional core,” she maintains.
The last few months have been difficult, the biggest challenge being insurance. Given the exorbitant cost of treatment and arthouse actress not making much in India, Tannishtha was aghast when told that it may not work out. “It was touching and reassuring when some friends got together to plan how they could pool resources to finance my treatment. Fortunately, my brother-in-law was able to swing the insurance for me,” she informs.
Even taking her film to completion was a challenge. The shooting of Full Plate had been completed, the edit locked, when the diagnosis came in, but Tannishtha still had to work on the sound and music. “On the days when I felt better, I’d put on a mask and head to the studio. By the time I returned, I was exhausted and would get a few hours of sleep before the excruciating pain, side effect of radiation, woke me up,” she shares, admitting she hasn’t been able to work much last year. “Even the recent acting offers had to be turned down because chemotherapy and a special diet curtailed out-of-town trips. Also I don’t want to exert myself,” she sighs.
That makes the play all the more special and working with Sharib, whom she directed in Full Plate, was a blast even though they come from different worlds. “Chalk and cheese works,” Tannishtha smiles. Yes, they had to invest their own money in the play, called in favours for even theatre space, but she’s hopeful that after a few more shows, they will be able to pay everyone, including the kids working backstage. “As artists we are not rolling in money, but we are privileged. Art can heal and that’s what we are aiming to do through this play,” Tannishtha signs off.
