Taapsee On Making It Big In Bollywood With No Help From Anyone

Watch Taapsee Pannu talk about her failures and growth as an actor.

Taapsee Pannu talks about her life and growth so far.

(Photo: The Quint)

“I remember once in school, a boy asked me,“What do you want to do when you grow up?”And I was like, “I don’t know what I want to do but I know I want the world to remember me.”

Taapsee Pannu

Actor Taapsee Pannu, who made her debut into the world of films with the Telugu hit Jhummandi Naadam, directed by the legendary director K.Raghavendra Rao) has long been hailed the queen of unconventional roles in Bollywood. It was her striking performance in the critically-acclaimed film Pink that got her noticed in B-Town.

Talking to the Quint about her life’s struggles and growth, she pointed out how she never wanted to get into acting to begin with and got into it because of her bewildering success:

“When the Tamil film released,it won 6 national awards that year. So, when people ask me when I decided to become an actor? I always say - after my first film released.”

Taapsee Pannu

Vicky Kaushal & Taapsee Pannu star in Manmarziyaan.

She also spoke about the initial dip in her career when a few of her films flopped and the things that followed soon after:

“People started calling me ‘bad luck charm.’ I was tagged as an ‘iron leg’ in the Telegu film industry. It’s very upsetting when you’re called a bad luck charm when you had 5-6 scenes in the film and 2-3 songs, but, you’re held responsible for the film not doing well.”

Taapsee Pannu

Taapsee also spoke about having made a name for herself without any internal support from the industry, but considers it the reason for her strong foundation. Soon after, she also started her own venture called Wedding Factory and even bought the Pune badminton team.

Taapsee Pannu recently spoke about pay gap in the industry and said “female driven films’ entire budget equals the hero salary.” She was last seen in Badla and will be next seen in Mission Mangal.

Camera: Sanjoy Deb
Assistant Camera: Gautam Sharma
Editor: Ashish Maccune