'Roam Rome Mein' about men coming face-to-face with patriarchy: Tannishtha Chatterjee

Actor Tannishtha Chatterjee says she did not want "Roam Rome Mein", her directorial debut, to be an obvious film about a brother searching for his missing sister and decided to add a touch of surrealism to the story.

The film revolves around Reena, played by Tannishtha, who goes to Rome to find her freedom from strict patriarchal father. When she goes missing, her brother Raj (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), undergoes his journey of awakening as he goes to find her and learns about Reena's life as well as his own.

The actor said the germ of the idea came from her own experience when she was in Rome.

"I went to a money exchange place and there was an old man who invited me home. It was a very weird dinner and at 9.30 pm, he looked at me and said 'it's time for you to leave!' He gave me a total lowdown on the history of feminism, Renaissance, Italy, Venice. Ten days later, when I went back to the place, I couldn't find it. The shopkeeper next to it told me that for hundreds of years there was nothing but a wall!
"The writing had to just come out as much as it did. When I was doing my location hunting some amount of clarity came there but a lot of the film was in my head. I wanted to shoot the film in the summer of Rome. It's so beautiful but nothing is affecting the character. I didn't want cold, winter, which could've gone with the rhythm but I wanted to play against that. He's not seeing any of the beauty and Rome is just passing by."