7 min readMumbaiUpdated: Feb 1, 2022 08:35 AM IST
Actor Taapsee Pannu is enjoying a career high. With a slew of interesting projects lined up, she will be seen in the Netflix film Looop Lapeta, an official Hindi remake of German film Run Lola Run. She plays a quirky character who is caught in a time loop as she tries to save her boyfriend from an imminent death.
Talking about the process of making Looop Lapeta, Taapsee jokes that it was like “college ka experimental cinema” that she was doing on the side and it gave her quite a kick. She says, “It felt like we were working on ‘college ka experimental cinema’. The cast and crew were filled with so much ‘josh’ and passion, we all wanted to make something ‘zabardast’. It also helps when you don’t take things too ‘heavy-duty’, and make a film while having fun. That vibe is reflecting in our film.”
What draws Taapsee to experimenting with such varied roles? And does she not fear getting lost in the sea of “non-conventional” roles she has been doing recently? “I have made a career out of playing tricky roles, as I’ve never got conventional roles to play,” the actor says.
Taapsee, who plays Savi in the Aakash Bhatia film, says, “People used to say that a certain film is commercial and some were ‘off-beat’, film used to be categorised this way. But, for me, there are only two types of films, one that is entertaining, by which I mean that it will keep you glued. Or the film that is not entertaining. A film can keep you glued because it is so intense, or it can keep you glued because it is so funny. There can be multiple reasons, but the end result should be that it should keep you glued.”
“When people would ask me why I didn’t work in ‘commercial cinema’, I wouldn’t understand the question. What is commercial cinema? The one that makes money, or the one that keeps the audience glued to their seats and they want to watch it, come out of the theatre and tell others to watch it too. I am part of these kind of films (the latter), and these for me are commercial films. Commercial films are those which give you the ‘paisa-vasool’ feeling, and the one that the audiences sits and watches without getting distracted. For me to do a film, this is the basic mandate,” she adds.
About bagging films with strong central parts, Taapsee says that was not her plan, and that she is open to doing multi-starrer films as long as her character’s presence is felt, no matter how big or small the role is. She says, “I never really wanted it to go like that. I never only wanted to do films where I am leading the cast. That’s why I tried to do films like Mission Mangal in between. I tried to do Soorma also. But it just so happens that I can only choose from what I get. And, for some reason, I am not getting the parts where I am not really the centre of attention. I really don’t understand why.”
Talking about Saand Ki Aankh where she starred with Bhumi Pednekar, the actor says she was “desperately searching” for a multi-starrer at that point. “I wanted a film where I could share the screen space with more female protagonists. That’s why I went behind that script to get it. Even now when people come and ask me what kind of stuff I’d like to do, I always talk about how I want to do a film where there are multiple characters at the same level. It is just that, for that purpose, the other actors should also be okay to do that. But, I really never wanted this message to go out that I am not okay not playing a central part because I have made a career out of a seven minute role that really did wonders for me. It is more challenging to make your presence felt if you have a lesser screen space and time. And that’s the kind of challenge that, as an actor, excites me. I am just waiting for someone to give me that part, as it is not about the length of the role but the fact that the character’s presence should be felt. Even if you give me only 1-2 scenes, I know I’ll make the most of it.”
Having said that, Taapsee calls it the best phase in her career as “the best scrips written, with central female protagonist” are coming to her. “I am glad that I am getting central roles, I can unabashedly say that some of the best scripts in the industry with a female protagonist come to me, and I am not going to be modest about it. People come to me and tell me ‘this is written for you’, that’s the kind of situation I have no complaints about. But it is not because I wanted to be the centre of attention but because it just so happened, maybe we can call it the snowball effect for doing the kind of films that I have done and I am happy to be where I am today. I have no complaints either way,” Taapsee adds.
Taapsee has been around for over a decade now. In Bollywood, that is considered time enough for a male actor to achieve stardom. Can women actors expect the same trajectory. Taapsee calls it a danger zone and says she would never want to become bigger than her films. She says, “I don’t think any star, male or female, should think like that. The day that you think you are bigger than the film, that’s the first day of your downfall. I feel it’s a danger zone. When you start thinking that you are bigger than the film, the motivation to work is diluted. Stardom for me is that there are a bunch of people who blindly trust you. They believe that if you’ve chosen it, it will be worth the time and effort they put into going and watching a film. That is stardom for me, not that you have become such a huge persona that more than the film, it is important what you are doing in the film.”
Taapsee Pannu will be next seen in Netflix's Looop Lapeta. (Source: Taapsee Pannu/Instagram)