Early last year, Taapsee Pannu impressed everyone with the first look of her forthcoming film Shabaash Mithu, where she steps into the shoes of the Indian women’s cricket team captain Mithali Raj. While the actress is eagerly waiting for the shoot to begin, she says, “It’s going to be a tough project because of two reasons. Firstly, I will have to pick up the game of cricket, and second, I will have to enact Mithali on screen. It is tough to play her because she is absolutely the opposite of how I am. She is extremely calm, reserved, well-poised and speaks her mind eloquently. I am more of an impulsive person, I say things without processing them well enough.”

The actress feels grateful to be a part of the biopic as she gets to essay a personality of such calibre. Taapsee shares, “She is an icon and not everybody gets a chance to portray someone like her. She is definitely someone I look up to, for not just her game, but also the kind of ideas and values she stands for. That’s why I love her even more.”

Apart from the biopic, she has been shooting for another sports film, Rashmi Rocket, where she essays an athlete. With two back-to-back films with sports as a backdrop, ask Taapsee if she is getting any inputs from her sportsman boyfriend Mathias Boe, who’s a badminton player, and she’s quick to add, “I think a brain surgeon cannot really tell a heart surgeon what to do! So, I don’t think we can compare and share tips on such different sports.”

The actress further says that she draws a line between her personal and professional lives when it comes to her relationship. “I have a life and a job of my own, which is very different from his, and we like to keep it apart,” she signs off.