‘OTTS ONLY WANT BOX OFFICE HITS’

Taapsee Pannu, who champions the rights of women onscreen, talks about choosing the right films in an industry that strictly banks on box-office numbers
Sonal Kalra (HINDUSTAN TIMES; February 28, 2026)

Bold, fearless, bindaas: few in the industry can be summed up like this. Actor Taapsee Pannu embodies these traits both off and on the screen. She talks about what works and how she functions, with her recent film Assi spotlighting the sensitive subject of rape. Excerpts from her chat on The Right Angle with Sonal Kalra:

With big-scale films like Dhurandhar, how do you get the conviction to bring an ‘uncomfortable watch’ about rape to theatres?
If people like to watch violence on screen, let’s not demarcate it as ‘this violence is okay, but this violence is not’. We all enjoy big films, but all types of cinema have their own palate.

If one decides to only watch a certain kind of films, our cinema will start looking like a template. Then we as an industry will not be able to produce the kind of variety we are capable of.

There is also a notion people have about a film being okay to watch on OTT, but not in theatres. But the reality is that OTTs also don’t want films that are not big-scale event-based. Their mandates clearly state that they only want films that are box office successes. Soon, there will be a time when movies like Assi will not be released even on OTT platforms.

Does it worry you that the industry prides itself on saying you are only ‘as good as your last hit’?
A decade ago, it was believed that women-led stories didn’t have space in theatres. Then came Vidya Balan and Kangana Ranaut-led films, changing the definition of ‘mainstream’. The industry was flourishing before Covid, when a film like Saand Ki Aankh (2019), in which Bhumi Pednekar and I played 60-year-old daadis, ended up earning Rs. 21 crore. There was that time, too.

Change is the only constant. I am going to be optimistic about the future. My only insecurity as an actor is that if that (mentality) continues, I will have to change the kind of films I take up. I would have to either disassociate totally or change my path and the kind of films and roles I do, which will be slightly painful for me.

When will your fans get to see you in a comedy role like Khel Khel Mein?
I am waiting for a good comedy. I don’t want to be the object of comedy; I want to perform. Mudassar Aziz (director) personally knew me and what kind of comedy I could pull off. People who know me don’t associate me with something so serious (Assi). I am really hoping that after Khel Khel Mein, I find my footing as a bankable actor and find the right script. It takes a while. We don’t have that many comedy films where women can enjoy doing comedy and not be the object of comedy. It’s a rare sighting.

There is a fight between producers and actors: producers say that if an actor leaves a film, they should be compensated; actors feel that they are not compensated when a film is shelved or postponed, or if they are replaced. What is your view?
If both sides decide to spend money on recces and block dates without signing any papers purely on trust, then in what capacity can one try to go and fight for it? It happens all the time.

I have wasted months trying to make a project happen. It happened when a filmmaker, who was a friend of mine, told me that our project had been indefinitely pushed because the investors pulled out, just two weeks before it went on floors.

For an actress, it’s extremely harsh because we don’t get paid as much. There is a limited time of the year that is good to shoot in. And three months of my peak shooting time got wasted like this because we had not signed any papers. We can only feel guilty about it, but we won’t have the authority to seek compensation. That’s how the business works.

Have you ever lost out on work because of being a bindaas, outspoken person?
I might have, but I don’t get this information firsthand. What I do get to hear is, ‘The hero doesn’t want you to be in the film.’ Heroes decide the heroine in a film, unless you have a director who is the biggest star who asks for a particular person. When Raju (Rajkumar Hirani, director) sir wanted me in Dunki (2023), I was in the film. It might just be a big shock for everybody because I am not in the quintessential circuit of those films, or Shah Rukh (Khan, actor) sir’s regular pair on screen. The director was sure he wanted me.

The other thing I sometimes hear is that I am a little too difficult to work with. But I fail to understand that. Anyone who looks at my filmography, directors who worked with me have repeatedly cast me, and that cannot happen with someone who’s difficult to work with. Nobody wants trouble again and again in their films.

If the people who have not worked with me say that I am not a very social person, I cannot go out of my way to show them how I am. I let my work do the talking. It’s the harder route, but I am saner that way.