In 2013, actress Taapsee Pannu filmed her first Bollywood film, ‘Chasme
Baddoor’, outside the very walls of the auditorium of Maquinez Palace. Today,
Taapsee is attending the 50th edition of the International Film Festival of
India as an established actress at that very venue. “My first experience in Goa
was when my parents brought my sister and me here for a family holiday. It was
unlike a typical Goan holiday because we were only seeing historical monuments,
cultural places and the beaches because when you come with your parents, that’s
what you do. We didn’t enjoy on the beach like you would do now, which became
quite weird for me and my sister so we decided to come back soon and wash out
those memories and see Goa the typical way, which we did eventually. I shot one
of my first South Indian films here for a few days and then I came for ‘Chasme
Badhoor’ also,” said Taapsee.
She was recently seen in ‘Saand Ki Aankh’ with Bhumi Pednekar,
which was based on a real life story. A 30-something actress, she was
transformed into a woman in her late 60s to play the character of Prakashi
Tomar, nicknamed Revolver Dadi from Johri village of Uttar Pradesh, one of the
oldest sharpshooters in the world. “There are no free lunches in life. You have
to work hard, especially when you have decided to go so much out of your
comfort zone. I think I strive outside my comfort zone. I strive when I am
uncomfortable about the idea of doing something and then I feel I will get
something new on the table, which I don’t know exists in me. That’s what
happened with ‘Saand ki Aankh’. It was a challenge to sit for three hours in
one chair. I am a very hyperactive person so for me to sit in one place for
hours itself was a big challenge. To keep the prosthetics on for 10-12 hours
every day in that heat was also a challenge for my skin. As an actor, your face
is of a lot of importance and you get scared that it might get spoiled for
good. I wanted to do that and if that was the extent to go to and I probably
would have still gone all the way through to do it. I know I was doing
something that done right would be remembered for a really long time,” she
explained.
Taapsee has acted in films with out-of-the-box stories that have
appealed to the masses. “I did ‘Manmarziyaan’, which was shot in Amritsar, and
I did ‘Judwa’, which was a glamorous role. I am an entrepreneur in Scotland in
‘Badla’, which cannot get more posh than that. I do all kinds of roles as we
are selling films to an Indian audience and the heartland always has a special
place in the Indian audience’s heart. That’s why more films are getting made in
heartland India,” says Taapsee, who also owns a wedding company which her
sister runs for her and Pune Seven Aces, a badminton team in the Premier
Badminton League in the country, which she calls her passions.
Taapsee
will be next working on Anubhav Sinha’s film ‘Thappad’, followed by Anurag
Kashyap’s next film and a few more, which she will shoot next year, including
‘Rashmi Rocket’. In a world where celebrity status comes at the cost of
privacy, Taapsee handles her own content on social media. “I handle all my
social media accounts myself so all my grammatical errors or weird things are
my own,” she concluded with a smile.
