Taapsee Pannu on why her last film didn’t appeal to the masses, her friendship with Anurag Kashyap & #MeToo
Ankita Chaurasia (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 15, 2019)

Speaking from Bagpat, Uttar Pradesh, where she is filming Anurag Kashyap’s Saand Ki Aankh, Taapsee Pannu is excited about the reactions to the trailer of her upcoming film, Badla, also featuring Amitabh Bachchan. In the Sujoy Ghosh directorial, she plays Naina Sethi, an entrepreneur, accused of murder. She reveals that she was approached for a different role but chose to play Naina because “she is a strong woman who knows what she wants from her lawyer”.

Badla, an official adaptation of the Spanish film The Invisible Guest, is Taapsee’s second collaboration with Amitabh after Pink and a repeat of the lawyer-client equation. Bring up the coincidence and she chuckles, “It will be a USP of the film but this time the circumstances are different. Pink’s Minal Arora was meek and at the mercy of the lawyer. In Badla I had to match up to Mr Bachchan and it was intimidating.” She dealt with it by pretending she didn’t have a legend for a co-star. “Even Mr Bachchan appreciates it when you treat him like a co-star instead of putting him on a pedestal. Now, he is a buddy who I can sit and chat with,” she smiles.

Talking about buddies, she is currently working on her second film with Anurag after Manmarziyaan, though this one he is only producing. She admits he is an extremely close friend now. “We are two brutally honest people and too lazy to hide things from each other or make up stories. Don’t be surprised if we work together again,” she says conspiratorially. Ask her if she consults him before signing a film and pat comes the answer, “No, that is not the right way to do it.”

The actress who plays strong female characters on screen, is equally vocal off it. Earlier, she had lashed out in Mirror (January 17) after being dropped from the Pati Patni Aur Woh remake after blocking her dates and letting go of other projects. “I don't come from a filmi background so there have been times earlier too when I have been considered for a role but didn't land it. This was different because I was asked to block dates, I wasn't targeting anyone,” she says on a quieter note.

The role has now gone to her Saand Ki Aankh co-star, Bhumi Pednekar, and Taapsee insists she is happy for her because it is a good role but they don’t discuss films on the sets. “We just keep talking about what to eat and how to work out using the things available,” she laughs, adding that they are milking cows, making cow-dung cakes and carrying kids around as the film is a biopic of the world’s oldest sharpshooters, 87-yearold Chandro Tomar and her 82-year-old sister-in-law Prakashi, popularly known as the ‘Revolver Daadis’ who started out in their mid-50s, and have since won over 100 medals in the veteran category across championships in the North zone and at the pre-nationals.

Since they are shooting right next to their house, both the ladies are always present on the sets and have even lent the unit their cattle. What’s more, even their extended family has driven down from Delhi to watch the shoot, along with the rest of the villagers who gather every night on the rooftops, despite the freezing temperatures, to see what the filmwallahs are doing. “It’s very amusing for them,” laughs the actress, who was last seen on screen in Manmarziyaan.

Quiz her on what went wrong with the Vicky Kaushal and Abhishek Bachchan love triangle and she reasons, “Our audience expects to see righteous heroines on screen, they forget that in the real world, everyone has shades of grey. They would have loved it if Rumi had sacrificed her love for marriage. Our audience is yet to wake up to real characters, especially when it comes to women. They accepted the Dhoom baddies, but when it comes to the heroine, the ghar ki izzat is on her shoulders. I want all my films to be a money spinner, but no one can predict what happens.”

She did have a money-spinner in Judwaa 2 so why don’t we see her doing more such projects? “Films like Judwaa 2 are reducing in numbers, now the audience wants content-driven, real films. There are many actresses who are good in the Judwaa 2 kind of films, I am way behind them in the queue,” she points out, saying she doesn't mind doing a commercial film but someone has to recommend her first.

The actress has just wrapped up Jagan Shakti’s Mission Mangal, also featuring Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan, and admits that since she is a qualified engineer in real life, some of the terms that they used as scientists in the film, came easy to her. “With the kind of scripts I am getting and the films I’m signing, the audience can bank on me now,” she promises. “Things are changing,” asserts the actress.

Talking about changes, the industry is going through an upheaval after the #MeToo movement last year. She admits that now everyone is wary about what they say or do on the sets and think twice before cracking a joke. And while she agrees that it is not an ideal situation, she insists it is the need of the hour. “Whenever there's a change, it is bound to be disruptive. It might be inconvenient for people to check themselves all the time, but this inconvenience is good. Women have been going through it for too long, rules need to be reframed,” she declares.