Tisca Chopra connected with personal history through 'Qissa'

Actress Tisca Chopra, whose grandparents were victims of Partition, found acting in Anup Singh's Punjabi film 'Qissa', a post-colonial story about a family uprooted by the events of 1947, an emotionally cathartic experience.
The 39-year-old actress plays the long-suffering wife of Umber Singh (Irrfan), who is trying to build a life for his family all over again in the post-colonial India in the film.
'Qissa' is competing in the India Gold section at the ongoing Mumbai International Film Festival and drew a great response from the audiences here.
"'Qissa' came to me four years back. He was trying to make the film for two years but it did not work out and eventually when it did, we were so happy. We have been speaking about the film so much that there was a great familiarity with the subject. Anup is a great craftsman. He is my teacher as he taught me about silence and not decorating my performance too much," Tisca told PTI in an interview.

The actress said she had a sense of deja vu as she was acting out the stories that had actually happened to her paternal and maternal grandparents, who both were victims of 1947 Partition.
"I was shooting near Wagah border and that was the exact spot where my grandparents landed in the newly formed India. I remember my father called and when I told him that I was shooting in this place, he was silent for a moment. He then told me the story of how his father had landed with six children and Rs 1000 thousand in his pocket that got picked," Tisca said.