Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; October 13, 2016)

Neeraj Pandey's 2015 Akshay Kumar-lead espionage thriller, Baby, featured a nameless RAW agent pummeling her target to pulp. The cameo was played with feisty grit by Pink actress Taapsee Pannu, who has commenced shooting for the prequel of the film in Mumbai.

Naam Shabana follows a young girl who gets inducted into India’s Research and Analysis Wing, the country’s foreign intelligence arm. “It is a simple woman’s journey to becoming a soldier. The grueling training makes her tough, but she doesn’t lack compassion,” informs Taapsee, who alludes to a scene from Baby where her character, agent Priya Suryavanshi, tells Sushant Singh that her name is Shabana Kaif.

Following her much-acclaimed performance in Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s Amitabh Bachchan-starrer, Pink, Taapsee confesses that she’s under pressure to perform. “I started panicking on the first day of the shoot,” she says, reasoning that while the original film was riding on co-actor Akshay Kumar’s back, the onus of the prequel will be entirely on her. “But when you work with actors like him and Amitabh Bachchan, you acquire confidence. I might not have a scene with Akshay in this film, (he has a cameo) but I’m certain I’ll do a good job,” she says.

While Taapsee’s Shabana will be involved in gritty action- packed sequences, the actress informs that in reality she’s hesitant to even swat a fly. “I am petrified about hitting anyone. For my part in Baby, I was more nervous than I have been for any other full-length role. Every blow that I landed on Sushant was followed by a thousand apologies. I am an athletic girl, so when I slap, it hurts. But Neeraj Sir was convinced about casting me. Physically, I’d say, I am custom fit for the role of a spy. I love martial arts and the film looks great.”