Tabu
Joginder Tuteja (DNA; August 25, 2015)

The first promo of Meghna Gulzar’s Talvar is out. And while Irrfan, Konkona Sen Sharma and other actors can be seen in the trailer, Tabu is conspicuous by her absence even in the credits at the end of the trailer.

This, despite it being widely known that the actress was brought on board by Meghna. An industry observer comments, “One wonders why her presence wasn’t used to promote the film in the 2-minute 40-second trailer. It isn’t as if she is the surprise element of the film.”

The trailer put to rest one speculation. Tabu isn’t playing the mother of the murdered teenager the film is based on (Konkona is playing that part). It is learnt that she will play another character who will play a key role in the telling of the story."

When contacted, Meghna says, “Tabu is not in the promo because it would be misleading to do so. The stories of the film and its casting that were doing the rounds were neither given by us nor were they corroborated by us. Since the film is in a sensitive space, we have spoken about the film only now, through its promo.”

As for the eventual presence of Tabu, Meghna just offers this, “Let’s just say she is the ‘lucky charm’.”

Wonder how that ‘charm’ will play out for the film.