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EXCLUSIVE: Taapsee Pannu - I can look forward to being in Bollywood rather than thinking 'I'll quit when I'm ready to get married'
Check out Taapsee Pannu's candid interview on her 30th birthday.
From making her debut in Chashme Baddoor (2013) as the bubbly girl next door to making her mark with her gritty performances in movies like Pink (2016) and Naam Shabana (2017), Taapsee has definitely shown her prowess as an actress in Bollywood.
As today marks Taapsee's 30th birthday, Pinkvilla had a tête-à-tête with the actress who spoke candidly to us about her birthday, changes in female oriented movies, her filmmakers' bucket list and working on Judwaa 2.
Excerpts from the interview below:
As you turn a year older today, what would you consider as the most memorable moment in your career till now?
Something that has lasted with me so closely was the time when I was standing next to the President of India and watching Pink as well as having dinner with him. That time was the most memorable.
How do you plan to ring in your birthday this year?
I'll be home with my parents in Delhi. I'll spend the whole day there just doing nothing...lounging with my parents and meet my childhood friends. I never have big birthday bashes. It's always been a little more quieter and even if it is with my friends from the industry, it will be more like a lounging birthday than going really high on a party.
How did the shoot of Judwaa 2 go in Mauritius?
It was a wonderful schedule and it was the last schedule for me in the film. We finished it with a song, that too a beach song. I'm a beach person myself so I think it was the best way to ring in my birthday in a way. I felt like I was in a holiday mode when I was there. First of all, you're on the beach, singing and dancing and with really fun people. After the pack up, all of us were relaxing on the beach together. It was more like a holiday and less like work.
You made your Bollywood debut with Chashme Baddoor, how does it feel to come full circle with David Dhawan in Judwaa 2?
It does feel like it's back to square one. I feel a sense of validation as an artist. When the people that you have worked with tend to repeat you, it gives you a sense of validation and that your report card has been good. That is the feeling that I get...that you've been doing the right things and are on the right track.
What is it like working with Varun Dhawan?
I've met him a couple of times before. We met during Chashme Baddoor as well. He is as warm, humble and fun as a person as people think he is. It's not like he is a different person otherwise. He definitely goes out of the way to be nice to people. All the love and attention that people shower at him, he's worth it. Because he is genuinely that humble and endearing as a person. Ofcourse the energy was there...I was working with someone my age. That energy is different when you work on set with someone who is your age. For both of us, it was our second movie with David Dhawan so we were on the same page.
One thing that I do take back from Varun is the PR skills. He has some amazing PR skills (laughs).
How is your equation with Jacqueline Fernandez given the typical stereotype of 'two actresses can't be friends'?
Jacky was also a very fun person to be around. Her energy is really good. She's always smiling and is positive towards things. I love having such positive people around. It is funny how everyone was expecting or wanting some tension to happen. But funnily enough, when we were coming back from Mauritius we were sitting next to each other on the plane. And, everyone was like, 'we need to take a picture of this'. I think everyone else was making it more dramatic than the both of us. From the hotel, we checked out together. We travelled together. It's not like we planned it but coincidentally we were also sitting next to each other on the plane. So, it was quite fun to see how everyone wanted some kind of drama but sadly to their disappointment, nothing happened (laughs).
With movies like Pink and Naam Shabana, you think times are changing for the better when it comes to female-oriented movies?
Definitely, it's changing. If you ask me, a couple of years back when I began acting...at that point, people used to ask me on how I see myself a couple of years down the line or when do you want to get settled and married. People used to ask me these and I used to say, 'When I'm done with acting, I'll get married.' But today, the way things have changed in the last couple of years especially me being a small part of this change that I have seen in myself with my films...I feel that we have reached a stage where it's not like you either progress in your personal life or professional life, you have to choose one. It is not like that. Today, the roles have changed...the films have changed...the audience has changed. So, they are very much receptive towards films regardless of the age group, the female protagonist, etc. It's not like I only have to play a college girl to survive in the film industry. Everything has changed quite a lot. Probably now, I can actually look forward to being here for as long as I'm getting good films rather than thinking that whenever I'm ready to get married, I'm going to quit. So, things have changed quite a bit.
Who is currently on your wish list when it comes to actors and filmmakers?
Actors, I don't really have any choices. I would like to work with all of them. But, with filmmakers, you have a bucket list. The first filmmaker in my bucket list; since the time I started acting in the South, was Mani Ratnam. I've always wanted to be Mani Ratnam heroine. Coming to Hindi and being a Hindi audience myself I would love to be a part of a Rajkumar Hirani film, an Imtiaz Ali film. Even for that matter a Vishal Bhardwaj's film. They are all so different from the other that I would like to be part of their films. Nowadays, even the younger upcoming ones...I think Shakun Batra is an extremely good director. I would love to be a part of his film. I don't mind being a part of a Shoojit Sircar and a Neeraj Pandey film again and again. There are so many on my bucket list now which I really hope, I'm able to strike off soon.
Was it a dream come true to work with Salman in Judwaa 2?
I never really had a dream of this profession, in my life. I had never dreamt of becoming an actor so that's why I never had this dream, that this will happen to me one day. Every day I shoot a new film, it's a bonus for me. So working with Salman was also like a bonus...be it, just for that one scene that I saw him around. On the set, I was the only one probably who had neither seen him before nor worked with him before. Everyone has seen him before or worked with him before. I was probably the quietest one on set that day contradictory to all other days when I'm the most talkative person on the set. That day it was totally the opposite. I was just standing there and observing and talking, bare minimum and watching how everyone is around him.
Did you have any perception about Salman Khan before you met him?
You hear everything that people tell you and especially since I'm working with the Judwaa team who have had some really close encounters with Salman...be it Sajid sir or David sir. They keep telling us instances about the experiences of working with Salman and you form a certain image of him. But when you meet him, that's a totally different feeling. For that one second, the flashbacks of all the things that you have seen of him on screen just start coming to your head when you meet that person for the first time. I didn't go with any kind of expectations or an image in my head that this is how he will be or not be. I was just looking forward to meeting him.
Is a Karisma Kapoor cameo happening in Judwaa 2?
I haven't shot with her so as far as I know, no...not really. I don't know if there's any progress after this. But, no... not so far.
Is your character's name inspired by Karisma's daughter Samaira?
I don't know where this thought... Obviously, it was a part of the script before so I think the writers can answer this better that, where did it come from exactly. But yeah, my character's name is Samaira.
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