Taapsee Pannu on the Baby spinoff
Subhash K Jha (DNA; September 3, 2016)

Good things are finally happening to Taapsee Pannu’s career in Hindi cinema.While her latest film Pink is garnering glorious pre-release raves, she has also given consent to a film called Meera to be produced by Neeraj Pandey.

The character will be based on the one that Taapsee played in Pandey’s Baby, where she played a deadly Indian intelligence officer who makes short work of a terrorist in a hotel room.

Taapsee had to undergo rigorous training in action to get the character right in Baby. She will have to work twice as hard on the stunts in Meera, as the film targets itself as the first true action film with a female hero.

Says Taapsee, “I am really excited about Meera. A lot of people felt my character in Baby had potential for development.”

However the spunky actress clears the air about the relationship between Baby and Meera. “While my character is going to be taken from Baby, Meera is neither a prequel nor a sequel to Baby, as reported. It’s part of the Baby franchise. But it’s going to be an independent film, though the character is derivative.”

Meera will be directed by Shivam Nair, best known for directing Ahista Ahista.

The actress has been making waves in the courtroom and outside it too
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 27, 2016)

While speaking to Mirror (August 18) recently, filmmaker Shoojit Sircar had revealed that when his director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury had sketched out the idea of his upcoming production, Pink, to him, he had insisted they set it in Delhi because having lived in the Capital for 18 years, he was well aware that such incidents of molestation are rampant there. Taapsee Pannu who plays his protagonist Meenal Arora has lived in the Capital's Shaktinagar till she was in high school and admits that there were occasions when she was groped when she had just entered college. "I was really young then and didn't even dare look at the person who had misbehaved in the eye because I was terrified of what would happen if I tried to confront him," she reminisces, adding that this gave her an insight into her character.

Taapsee has read up on cases of survivors but admits that there wasn't much scope for prep. "I probably landed the role because they wanted someone who knew Delhi well," reasons the 29-year-old actress, admitting that it was uncomfortable answering the unpalatable questions posed by defence lawyer Deepak (played by Amitabh Bachchan) even though they were just lines from the script. "Thankfully Shoojit sir did not push me to do too many rehearsals. I just reacted spontaneously," says Taapsee, adding that in the scene where Bachchan asks her in court if she was a virgin, even though she was expected to say "no" she improvised on the spot and just nodded her head prompting him to raise his voice and demand she answer with a "yes or a no".

This is Taapsee's third film with Shoojit after Amit Roy's as-yet-unreleased romcom, Runningshaadi. com with Amit Sadh, and Agra Ka Daabra with Ayushmann Khurrana which is yet to go on the floor. "There is a right time for everything," she shrugs. "I've done my job as an actor and I will be there for him whenever he requires. Agra Ka Daabra didn't take off as all of us got busy with other projects but the script is ready."

Meanwhile, she has finished most of Prakash Raj's slice-of-life film, Tadka, also featuring Nana Patekar, Shriya Saran and Ali Fazal and the period war drama, Ghazi, with Rana Daggubati as a naval officer and Taapsee playing a Bangladeshi refugee. "Tadka revolves around a young and an older couple and how they deal with a certain problem. Shriya and I are roommates in the film so we went out to dinner before we started shooting and hung out together in Goa while filming. Nana sir cooked us an amazing Goan meal," she smiles at the memory.

Coming up is Neeraj Pandey's Meera which will be directed by Shivam Nair. Refuting rumours of it being a prequel to Akshay Kumarstarrer Baby, she informs that it's an action film on Meera's journey. Akki plays a cameo and it also has Manoj Bajpayee and Prithiviraj.

Meanwhile, Taapsee is exulting about pulling off a 13-page scene in one take which had Bachchan and Piyush Mishra interrogating her and 100 people in the court, everyone broke into applause and Big B hugged her. "I really liked one of his hair sprays and even asked him where he had bought it. That day, he gave it to me, saying, 'I hope you appreciate this small gesture, ma'am'. It's more important for me than any other trophy," she smiles.

Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; August 26, 2016)

DNA (March 31, 2014)

A sex video featuring Pakistani actress Meera and her husband, Naveed Shahzad, who is a pilot, in their most intimate moments, went viral last week resulting in a raging controversy in the country. Now a Pakistani court has apparently issued an arrest warrant (for spreading obscenity), against the actress and her husband and the police have been directed to produce them in court. But the actress and her husband feel too much noise is being made over a minor issue, with Meera even claiming that it’s a fake video. Either way, who cares!

Parag Maniar (BOMBAY TIMES; March 25, 2014)

Imtiaz Ali is shocked to learn that there are emails being sent in his name to aspiring actors, asking them to audition for a role in his next film, Meera. The mail also asks for pictures and claims that the shooting of the film would begin soon.

An aspiring actor, Vije Bhatia, actually fell for such a mail. “I exchanged a few mails and even got a reply, purportedly from Imtiaz. But now, I realise that it’s a hoax, as neither an audition nor a meeting with Imtiaz has taken place till date,” he said.

Ali clarified that there is no film titled Meera in the offing. “I have not sent any mail. And there is no film Meera being planned. While deciding on the cast, I always meet people personally and don’t exchange emails,” the filmmaker said. Soon after, Pandey’s spokesperson sent out a mail saying that the Special 26 director’s ID had been compromised. The spokesperson also said that Pandey was not conducting any audition in Delhi and Bangalore. “We would like to inform all the readers that Neeraj Pandey is neither associated with this fake ID, nor has any bearings with the auditions. It is unfortunate that such incidents occasionally happen, and we have to eventually deal with them. The fake ID in question has been brought to the notice of the Cyber Crime Department, and a complaint has been registered. We would like to advise everyone to be cautious of such fake IDs and to be wary of such activities going on under the pretext of movie auditions. Also, Neeraj Pandey is not on any social media,” clarified the spokesperson.