Bollywood embracing trash of the west: Tannishtha Chatterjee

Mumbai: Actress Tannishtha Chatterjee, who has kept her distance from typical Bollywood potboilers, skin show and the glamourous look, feels the Hindi film industry is not adapting the right elements of western filmmaking.

Several actors like Deepika Padukone, Bipasha Basu and Paoli Dam have recently dared to bare in their movies. Asked if she is comfortable with the idea of exposing on screen, Tannishtha told IANS: "I have nothing against pornography. Personally, I don`t think I want to be a porn star." "But anywhere in a literate world in a cultured society, that is an alternative culture existing. Unfortunately, we are embracing the trash of the west and that`s very sad." She says ignoring skin show is not the solution. "I am not saying that pornography does not need to exist. It has its own space, but I think you should make serious stuff for the mainstream," she added. However, she is very happy in her own space with projects like British film "Brick Lane" and Indian films "Road, Movie" and her next, Mangesh Hadawale`s "Dekh Indian Circus". She is glad that alternate cinema is now being appreciated by the country`s audience. "I am very happy here. I think more interesting stuff is happening in this space and in the last two years, we need to question what is commercial because a lot of what we call `other kind of cinema` is embraced and appreciated by our younger audiences," Tannishtha said. "Big examples are `Paan Singh Tomar` and `Vicky Donor` -- none of them is in the cliched Bollywood space. But people loved them despite the fact that there were no big promotions," she added. Several actors like Deepika Padukone, Bipasha Basu and Paoli Dam have recently dared to bare in their movies. Asked if she is comfortable with the idea of exposing on screen, Tannishtha told IANS: "I have nothing against pornography. Personally, I don't think I want to be a porn star." "But anywhere in a literate world in a cultured society, that is an alternative culture existing. Unfortunately, we are embracing the trash of the west and that's very sad." She says ignoring skin show is not the solution. "I am not saying that pornography does not need to exist. It has its own space, but I think you should make serious stuff for the mainstream," she added. However, she is very happy in her own space with projects like British film "Brick Lane" and Indian films "Road, Movie" and her next, Mangesh Hadawale's "Dekh Indian Circus". She is glad that alternate cinema is now being appreciated by the country's audience. "I am very happy here. I think more interesting stuff is happening in this space and in the last two years, we need to question what is commercial because a lot of what we call 'other kind of cinema' is embraced and appreciated by our younger audiences," Tannishtha said. "Big examples are 'Paan Singh Tomar' and 'Vicky Donor' -- none of them is in the cliched Bollywood space. But people loved them despite the fact that there were no big promotions," she added. IANS