BHARATI PAWASKAR
The directors like to repeat her in their films. She doesn’t have an issue with the co-actress who shares same stage with her. A Delhi girl, she learnt Tamil and Telugu when she ventured into South Indian cinema as an actress. Vocal about the lesser budget allotted to women-centric films she demands parity in pay cheque for female actors with their male counterparts. Bold, beautiful and confident, she enjoys every moment of being before camera and is quite sure that she will stop facing camera the moment she stops enjoying her work. Taapsee Pannu seems to be the perfect role model for today’s youth who know what they want and detest taking a ‘no’ or cannot digest a failure.
Speaking on life, her middle-class background, her entry in films, her values and principles and her views on ethics and morality, Taapsee seemed to be comfortable in her skin as she conversed with Madhumeeta Mukherjee at IFFI 2019. Facing a house-full auditorium, with an enthusiastic crowd eager to hear her, the 32-year-old actress of Punjabi descent admits that she had to learn the languages well before she accepted roles in Telugu, Tamil and Malyalam films. A software engineer and a model prior to her entry in cinema, Taapsee enjoyed public speaking.
“I was a drama queen in school and college but never participated in plays. I did modelling for pocket money. I never said no to any opportunity. Hence when I was offered a role in 2010 in a Telugu film, I accepted it as a new experience. I was not serious about my acting career but I got two more South movies after the release of my first film,” she recalls.
Before choosing a film, she listens to the story and look at three things. “Will I spend money and time to go to a theatre and watch this movie? Will the audience take me home, meaning will I be remembered for my role? The third is, will my kids be proud of their mother when they see my films. If the answer to this is yes, I accept the offer,” quips Taapsee, a familiar face in many commercials - Reliance Trends, Red FM 93.5, Airtel, Coca-Cola, Motorola, Pantaloon, PVR Cinemas, StandChat Bank, Dabur, Vardhaman, Tata Docomo etc.
Taapsee was awarded Most Enthusiastic Performer “ Female Award at the 2014 Edison Awards for her performance in the 2013 Tamil film Arrambam. She went on to star several successful films. This girl-next-door who calls herself ‘phoenix’, believes that releasing a film is all together a different ball game and one needs smart people like SRK to do the job perfectly.
When asked if she gets angry if she loses a film to another person, Taapsee was affirmative, “But over the years, I have learnt anger management. Just like any other actor, I am still moody. But now I am not so temperamental and am building up patience. I am a person who would rather see the glass half full.” Being an outsider in the industry and a person who came from a regular, normal, middle-class background, she lived life as a commoner. And that’s why she can relate to the simpleton characters she plays on screen. Speaking on her shift from commercial cinema to play different types of protagonists, Taapsee maintains, “After I felt that the space is too crowded and there are already many who are brilliantly doing their job here, I chose a new path “ to create my own space. I am slow and steady. I make sure that nobody can claim their part in my success.”
A hyperactive person in life, she dared to play negative characters too. But thinking like a regular, average Indian woman she makes it clear that in reality, she does not endorse her act in Judwaa 2 where she played a woman who has a boyfriend, but marries to someone else and then comes back to her boyfriend. “I would not do this in real life,” says Taapsee, who has admitted publicly that she will not date or marry a man from film industry. “I have a life beyond films and I want to live it,” she smiles.
