In the eagerly awaited Banda Yeh Bindass Hai, the remake of My Cousin Vinny, Tabu plays the role of a naughty lawyer. This is a radical departure for her – so how did this happen? “It was Ravi Chopra managed to convince Tabu to play a sexy character for Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai,” said a source, “When she was first offered the part by him she declined it, but after a lot of persuasion, Chopra managed to get the Namesake starlet to go for the role. The role requires Tabu to expose her body. But since the film is a comedy she won’t be presented in a vulgar manner.”
Tabu, the twice National Award winning actress, is best known for her more substantial roles in movies such as Maqbool, Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities, and The Namesake and the groundbreaking Chandni Bar. This year, she has been focusing on the Tollywood film industry with movies such as Idee Sangati and Pandurangadu.
Her next movie, which begins shooting in November, is Seasons Greetings, which will also include Sohail Khan and up-and-coming actress Shilpa Shukla. This will be her second ‘light’ movie role in Bollywood in a role – does she mind being considered as a heavyweight actress? “That’s the disadvantage of being stereotyped,” she says, “On the one hand, it’s good to have a type for yourself and then it’s up to you to continue with it or not. If people feel I can do heavy and emotional roles well, then I must be convincing. But it has nothing to do with who I am as a person. Maybe, my face or appearance suits such roles. Physicality is the first thing a viewer notices while judging an actor’s performance. But all this doesn’t bog me down. I know I’ll do a role only if I want to. Otherwise, I say no.”
