Most Underrated · Women
Tillotama Shome
तिलोत्तमा शोम
“Has anchored films at Cannes and still gets introduced as a supporting actor.”
- Screen debut
- 2001
- Best in
- Sir (2018)
- Also see
- Monsoon Wedding · Qissa · Delhi Crime · Kadvi Hawa · Shadows of Time
No social account is listed here because we could not positively confirm an official one. We link verified first-party accounts only — a fan page or a namesake would be worse than nothing.
The case
In Sir she plays a live-in maid in love with her employer and never once asks the audience for sympathy — the entire performance is composed of the small physical adjustments a person makes to stay in an unequal room. It is one of the most controlled lead performances of the last decade in any language.
Where to start
Begin with Sir (2018). It's in this canon — read our entry on it. Then work through Monsoon Wedding, Qissa, Delhi Crime.
See how we defined “underrated” and why some obvious names are missing in our methodology essay.
Career record Wikipedia — Tillotama Shome · data last revised 9 August 2026 · debut year and filmography are read from that article; no award count, box-office figure or rating is claimed here
Editorial Selection as one of the twenty most underrated, and the case made for it — not a measurement · last revised 9 August 2026 · signed by Amit Sharma · the scoring is published in full so the machinery can be argued with, not just the result
In the canon
