Taapsee Pannu: No Second Chances for Outsiders in Bollywood
“YOU ARE JUST STARTING OFF AND IF YOU COME ACROSS AS CHOOSY, IT DOES NOT GO DOWN WELL WITH MANY,” SAID TAAPSEE PANNU
Following her scene-stealing turn in Baby, actress Taapsee Pannu is keen to choose her projects carefully as she believes there are no second chances for outsiders in Bollywood.
Taapsee has her priorities right as she believes only hard-work and right choices will keep her moving ahead in the industry, where competition is cut-throat.
“It is a very difficult place. The competition is so on your face that it takes strength to shut your eyes to it and just do your work. Sometimes you get put down by some random comment or by people who look down at you. It is hard to live in it and difficult to live out of it,” Taapsee told PTI.
The actress, who started her showbiz journey with southern films, made her Bollywood debut with Chashme Baddoor and followed it up with her tough intelligence officer act in the Akshay Kumar movie. She will next be seen in Running Shaadi.com.
Talking about Baby, the 27-year-old actress said she was confident that her 25 minute role in the Neeraj Pandey film will be appreciated.
“It is a very rare thing that you get to do an action sequence in an Akshay Kumar movie all by yourself. I really wanted to get this role because female actors don’t have as many opportunities to do something different as men. We still have miles to go before we reach a level where female actors have as many good out-of-the-box roles,” she said. The actress admits that it is hard to say no in the beginning of one’s career but then she does not want to get pigeonholed into a particular image.
“It is hard to say no, especially to the people who are much more experienced than you. You are just starting off and if you come across as choosy, it does not go down well with many. But it is my career and I will own up my decisions good or bad. Also, you are constantly pitted against actresses, who know who’s who of the industry, have some sort of godfather or backing. I can’t even take the risk where my movie does not work because I won’t be given a second chance,” she said.
For Taapsee, Running Shaadi.com, where she is paired opposite Amit Sadh, is well within her comfort zone.
“I play a very unpredictable small town Amritsar girl. The casting director knew that I was a sardarni. They wanted someone who was natural in the role. Director Amit Roy offered me the role the moment I started speaking in Hindi because I have the lingo right as I grew up in Delhi,” she said.
Apart from Running Shaadi.com, Taapsee will also star opposite Ayushmann Khurrana in Shoojit Sircar’s Agra Ka Dabra.
