Tisca Chopra: ‘My point is very simple, let the story be the star. It’s my religion’

Actor Tisca Chopra doesn’t feel things have completely changed for female artists in the industry. Though she admits that there have been “dramatic” changes, she says, “It’s just the beginning.” She will soon be seen alongside Akshay Kumar in Good News that also stars Kareena Kapoor, Kiara Advani and Diljit Dosanjh.

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The 45-year-old has a rich body of work, and adds, “Today, people don’t say ‘Are you crazy!’ when you say ‘This is what I am going to do’. It’s not like people are saying [it’s a] great story, they still say [the story is] female centric. But, we never say ‘male centric’; that’s not the norm. You should be gender agnostic when talking about a story. How does it matter whether it’s a man or a woman? If it’s a good story, people will love it. My short film Chutney had five million views online. Who had imagined it?”

But, what does she make of something like the recent release Mission Mangal’s poster — where the hero’s (Akshay Kumar) face is bigger than the five female actors including Taapsee Pannu and Sonakshi Sinha who have themselves admitted that the poster was designed so because of Akshay’s stardom. Tisca says, “There’s no doubt that he’s the biggest star. For reference, if somebody was as big as him, among the females, her face would be as big. My point is very simple, let the story be the star. It’s my religion. I don’t care about the rest of the stuff; commercials etc sab hota rahega. You should think like ‘Aisi kahaani sunaunga ki people will think h**y s**t, what hit them’.”

The actor recently tasted success in the web space with Hostages, which even won her an award. Tisca is now prepping for her debut directorial venture, and choosing acting projects after much deliberation. She adds, “I want to do roles which drive the story; two-three people ensemble pieces [or roles that are] absolutely central to the storyline. The story has to make me feel I’ll miss out on it... There wasn’t such a time for that earlier; those kind of roles weren’t written for women. How would a show like Hostages be possible five years back? The time is allowing us to do that. I feel at the peak of my performing capacity, in terms of readiness, craft, and everything else. It’s really a good time for me!”

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