Following Her Heart: Taapsee Pannu

From looks that can make you go awe to a personality that is so powerful and inspiring, the ‘chashme badoor’ actress taapsee pannu is sure an ideal example of a modern indian woman. The delhi-born punjabi, one of the many actresses who has been unanimously accepted both in southern and bollywood filmdom, has been receiving praises and applause for her recent film ‘baby’. In an exclusive chat with rajashri ramesh, the chirpy actress talks about her role, relationships and more.

- Rajashri Ramesh

1. At the outset, congratulations for your role in ‘Baby’. How did you land on this role as a toughie?

Getting the role was as tough as the role itself is. Initially, Neeraj Pandey (director) wasn’t sure if I will be able to pull off the full-length role. He thought I am too shy and could not imagine me doing the role. However, I was determined to get the role and met his casting director for the same. When I then met Neeraj, he asked me to read out some lines form a paper. It wasn’t too long before he asked me to stop. I wondered if it was too good for the role or if it was too bad that he asked me to stop (laughs). Immediately after going home, I got a confirmation call got for the role.

2. This was the first time you did action. What was the training and experience like?

This is the first role that I got after a hard chase; a role that I wanted. It was quite a different role and working with Akshay (Kumar) was an amazing experience. He has an amazing sense of comic timing, both on and off screen. You can never anger Akshay easily. He is a calm and composed person. In my opinion, he should be called Mr. Cool rather than Mr. Khiladi. As far as the training is concerned, I did not undergo any personality training, but yes a lot of efforts in terms of physical training. I’ve never done martial arts before, but training by experts from Krav Maga helped me pull off the action sequence.

3. What’s next for you? Are you working on any film at present? What kinds of roles do you wish to do?