What was it about Rani that we rooted for her in Haseen Dillruba (2021), despite knowing that she was a murderer? A part of the magic lay in the writing. But credit goes equally to Taapsee Pannu who brought her feisty attitude as well as vulnerability to the character. Reprising the role in Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba, the actor admits that playing the morally dubious Rani is tricky.

“With slightly grey characters, the idea is to approach them in such an honest way that the audience feels that even they can make such a mistake. If you are able to convince viewers of that, you are victorious. In the sequel, Rani is doing all the wrong things, but for the right reasons,” she grins.

In Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba, Rani and Rishu—essayed by Pannu and Vikrant Massey respectively—continue to evade the police, but are faced with a new romantic entanglement in the form of Sunny Kaushal’s character. Getting into the Netflix sequel, Pannu kept in mind what the audience liked about her character.

“I noticed the things on which memes were made. People liked the way Rani uses gender not to be a victim, but to get her way. So, I retained that.”

In her 11-year Bollywood career, she has steadily carved an image of an actor whose films spark discourse—be it about consent through Pink (2016), or domestic violence with Thappad (2020).

Tell her it’s a fantastic place to be in, and she laughs, “It has become a borderline problem. It has become difficult to get cast in a film that doesn’t have a message. Nevertheless, I’m not regretful because people work hard for decades to create some kind of image.”

With image, come expectations. Pannu is aware that the audience expects message-driven movies from her, while a section feels that she only picks roles of the “alpha” female. Does this get to her?

“It disturbs me at times. But then I [remind myself] not to lose myself as an actor. I constantly tell myself that I won’t sustain in the long run if I do things to please people. So, I only do things that I feel good about. I’m here for the long run; I’m not a trend. I’m not here to be the actress of the season. I did spy action films 10 years ago [Baby and Naam Shabana] when they weren’t a trend. So, I don’t want to do that now. I don’t like being a part of a trend. People might call me pompous, but I would prefer being someone who can start a trend. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do that.”