The very beautiful Taapsee Pannu turned a year older on August 1 with a subdued birthday celebration with only her immediate family.
Taapsee likes to celebrate her birthdays the conventional way. “There was a cake, candles, and normal celebrations.”
The Assi actress has acquired the reputation of featuring in strong feminist roles, and she says she is not afraid of the future. “The audiences’ expectations challenge me to do better and better. I want them to come to the theatre with expectations of something special, something substantial. Now there are expectations not only from my films but from the characters I play. And that’s fine.”
Not that she is not open to smaller non-pivotal parts. “I am open to smaller parts as long as I’ve something to contribute to the plot. I have to be relevant. But I can’t do small roles where I go home with the audience making no impression. That would backfire. There was a Telugu film I did some years ago where I was there in the first half, then I vanished in the second half, and then I returned in the last twenty minutes. I could feel the audience waiting for my return in the plot. That kind of expectation is both scary and exciting. I feel if I do an inconsequential role, audiences will feel cheated. And that’s a bittersweet feeling.”
Taapsee Pannu couldn’t be in a better place this birthday. Happily married, with a slew of powerful roles behind her and ahead, she isn’t afraid to play flawed, frightened characters as long as these women display a fighting spirit.
Taapsee feels responsible towards the audience. “They should never feel let down by my films. I don’t want them coming out of the theatre muttering, ‘Yeh kya bakwas dikha diya?’ I have been reading scripts and genres which make me feel like, why are they offering me the same thing? I realize that probably I have touched so many different genres and characters and topics in my last ten years of working in Hindi cinema that the kind of options that I am left with to try have reduced.”
Taapsee admits she has made a career of shouldering films. “Actually, it’s a very stressful burden to bear because it’s like a hot seat to sit in; there is too much pressure on you, there are too many eyeballs and judgements thrown at you, there is very little given to your credit; you are more criticised than appreciated for putting yourself into that position after so many years of doing these kind of films .”
Taapsee is willing to sit back and wait for the apt projects. “I think I have crossed the bridge where I am going to keep in mind what others want me to do before what I would want to do with my own life. I think I have crossed that bridge. I am pretty clear that I would want to be in a position that I feel excited or comfortable being in. I would like to be an important part of my film. I would like my audience to see the kind of risks I am taking. I know it’s the longer and more difficult path I have chosen; you don’t really get appreciated that easily in this path, but I am not here for short-term goals. I am here for a long run.”
