Tamannaah Bhatia on the challenge following the success of Baahubali: ‘How do you do something bigger than Baahubali?’

In the second edition of SCREEN LIVE, Sikandar Ka Muqaddar stars Tamannaah Bhatia, Avinash Tiwary and Jimmy Shergill were the guests as they discussed the Neeraj Pandey film, their careers, being outsiders, and more.

By: Entertainment Desk

Chennai | Updated: November 28, 2024 11:07 PM IST

4 min read

Tamannaah Bhatia talks about reinventing her career after Baahubali during SCREEN LIVE. (Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)

When Tamannaah Bhatia made her south cinema debut with the Telugu film Sree (2005) and the Tamil film Kedi (2006), she was still in her teens. Cinema was new to her. The language was new to her. The people were new to her. And yet, 19 years and 80-odd films later, Tamannaah is a household name in South India. Ahead of the release of her new film, Sikandar Ka Muqaddar, Tamannaah was joined by her co-stars Avinash Tiwary and Jimmy Shergill in the second edition of SCREEN LIVE, which is one of the flagship events of the newly relaunched SCREEN, the one-stop shop for quality journalism in Indian entertainment space.

Talking about her learnings from the initial struggle to make a mark in a new industry, and how Baahubali was a game-changer in more ways than one, Tamannaah said, “Working with people much older than me, and in a place where I didn’t know the language was one of my biggest learnings. I understood a completely different culture, and I can now speak in both Tamil and Telugu.” She added that the real hustle started when she attained dizzying levels of success as a commercial heroine through back-to-back blockbusters in both Tamil and Telugu. “I had that commercial success, but I was still hungry as an actor. I wanted to perform different and challenging roles. The thing is when an actor is doing commercially well, there was a notion that moving away from it and experimenting with roles was unnecessary. But my funda was hatke… I wanted to do different parts,” said Tamannaah.

Also Read | Amitabh Bachchan called Jimmy Shergill a ‘method actor’ when they first met for Mohabbatein: ‘I had a bandage on my hand like my character’

It is at this juncture of her career that Baahubali happened, and changed things. “It was a gamechanger for everyone, and introduced the term pan-Indian film that we all seem to like now. But what it truly did was to broaden my perspective,” pointed out a rather pensive Tamannaah Bhatia, who reveals a rather interesting question that popped up in her mind after the stupendous success of the SS Rajamouli film. “How do you do something bigger than Baahubali? What should I do next? Do I do something bigger? Or do I reinvent?”

It is this quest for reinvention that has been the standout aspect of Tamannaah’s career in the past decade. It is in this phase that she did films like Thozha, Dharma Durai, Devi, F2, Sketch, Kanne Kalaimaane, Khamoshi, Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, and Maestro. These were films that not only utilised her stardom, but gave her roles that pushed her to be a different version of herself. Tamannaah, the actor, got equal space to shine alongside Tamannaah, the star.

“Now, I am starting another phase. In Sikandar Ka Muqaddar, I am playing a role that the audience hasn’t seen me play before. Hope they enjoy watching the film,” said Tamannaah.

Also Read | Avinash Tiwary recalls accidentally hitting Amitabh Bachchan on Yudh set: ‘Still haven’t recovered from the embarrassment I felt’

Story continues below this ad

SCREEN LIVE with Jimmy Shergill, Tamannaah Bhatia and Avinash Tiwary.

Sikandar Ka Muqaddar is a heist film doubling up as an intense cat-and-mouse chase that spans almost two decades. The film features Jimmy Shergill as the relentless cop Jaswinder Singh, and three suspects — Mangesh Desai (Rajeev Mehta), Kamini Singh (Tamannaah Bhatia) and Sikandar Sharma (Avinash Tiwary). Directed by Neeraj Pandey, the film would stream on Netflix from November 29.

From the homepage