'Dunki The Best Thing That Could Have Happened To Me'

Anuradha Choudhary Converses With The Supremely Talented Taapsee Pannu

- Anuradha Choudhary

FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE A DICEY THING.

EITHER YOU'RE COMPLETELY RIGHT ABOUT A PERSON AFTER JUST ONE MEETING OR YOU'RE COMPLETELY WRONG.

When you first look at Taapsee Pannu, what hits you is the steely glint in her eyes. That's the first thing that hit us during our first meeting all those years ago and that's something that has stayed even now, after a decade. A star's career is full of ups and downs. How she deals with it defines her in the long run. Some, after facing hardships, become bitter and broody. Some learn from the tough times and smile more and laugh genuinely. After establishing herself down South, Taapsee arrived in Bollywood with the comedy Chashme Baddoor (2013). She didn't have a godfather in the industry. After a few hiccups, she got noticed for her seven-minute role in Baby (2015), and never looked back since. She's made a name for herself choosing issue-based films like Pink (2016), Mulk (2018), and Thappad (2020) and is looking forward to the release of her first proper biopic, Shabaash Mithu, where she's bringing to screen the life of Mithali Raj, India's longest serving and most decorated woman cricketer. It's ironical that in a cricket-crazy country like ours, the common man would be hard pressed to name a woman cricketer of note. So, despite being a biopic, Shabaash Mithu is also a homage to the women in blue and hopefully would encourage more girls to take up sports. Excerpts from a heart-to-heart talk with the fiery actress...

I MUST CONFESS THAT I ONLY FOUND OUT THAT WE ALSO HAVE A WOMEN'S CRICKET TEAM IN 2017.