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Actress Taapsee Pannu is on a roll these days. With multiple projects in her kitty, the Punjabi girl is turning out-to-be on every producer’s wish list of late. Awaiting the release of ‘Daruvu’ today, the actress who gets butterflies in her stomach before every film of hers hit the theatres shares her journey to Hans Talkies and was bold enough to get back at her critics who viewed her as a mere bimbo. Taapsee’s career has come a full circle during her engineering days. It was during this period that the studious girl got associated with modeling. Says the actress, “The reason that I did engineering was because of my love towards academics. I’ve always dreamt of doing something that would keep me at the edge of my seat and after winning “Pantaloons Femina Miss Fresh Face" and "Safi Femina Miss Beautiful Skin" in 2008, I was into TV commercials down south and during my last year of engineering offers poured in from south and Bollywood. My pitstop was acting as it is the only industry where you can do many things in life, the only industry that challenges you every other day”. After making her debut in ‘Jhummandi Naadam’, she was seen as a second fiddle in films like ‘Mr Perfect’ and ‘Veera’ but the actress says, “Yes I was the second lead in ‘Mr Perfect’ but in ‘Veera’, I had more space, songs and I walk away with the hero in the end. I don’t deem it as a second fiddle at all. People said it because my co-star Kajal Aggarwal was a senior actress, but the fact remains that I had more screen time. I seriously don’t understand on what grounds some justify about first or second leads as it boils down to the characters that you are playing,” adds Taapsee who is portraying the role of a Bharatnatyam dancer in ‘Daruvu’. “It’s an out and out Indian character than that of ‘Mogudu’ and I will be seen mostly in cotton sarees, chudidaars except for songs where I will be sporting western outfits. The character is scared and confused at the same time. I’ve played lively and talkative characters mostly and for a change this is a restrained one,” informs Taapsee. While big Tollywood actresses refrained from lending voice to their characters, Taapsee went ahead with her own voice for Krishna Vamsi’s ‘Mogudu’ only to face mixed reactions. “Yes, there was a mixed reaction. There were people who lauded my voice clarity, though others differed. My voice is different from that of dubbing artistes. Hence rural population from AP couldn’t relate to it. They could not understand my accent, which is fine. I will not stop dubbing because I’ve faced criticism. I was criticised for lots of other things in my journey,” explains Taapsee. She, however, stayed away from dubbing for ‘Daruvu’ since director Siva suggested that her voice wouldn’t fit the character. Ravi Teja is known to be a screen scorcher and he is known to over-shadow his heroines. On this she says, “The kind of characters that directors and writers design for Ravi Teja are stronger than heroines. We play the roles that are offered to us and am playing the role which was done many a times but the movie wouldn’t start if it’s were not to be my role. I can’t compare my presence with that of Mass Maharaj.” For major part of her stint in Tollywood, she was at the receiving end for exposing than for acting, but Taapsee wants those critics to look beyond her looks. “The fact that I look good and wear nice outfits made such critics to feel that I’m more into exposing forgetting the reason that I exist to perform on screen. They should see beyond my looks. In ‘Mr Perfect’ I was not into shedding my clothes (as they call) but my performance got appreciation. Critics should get their basics right. They slammed me saying that I did not perform in ‘Mr Perfect’ and in ‘Mogudu’. If that is not a performance, then I don’t know what is a performance,” reasons Taapsee. Looking at her career so far now, her success ratio is less compared to heroines who started at the same time. But, the actress is keen on introspection of things that went wrong. “We have qualified and unqualified critics saying lots of things about failures. I hear what they say and I have my own ways on how to go about improving my skills. If I don’t accept the mistakes that I’ve made I will never grow,” claims the actress who gets jitters before her every release. “I’m nervous because it’s kinda of a report card. You are passing out with every movie and you upgrade yourself which is what makes me nervous. If I start becoming relaxed and chilled-out about it, it means I’m taking it for granted which I don’t want to associate with on any given day. The movie’s success and failure matter the most to me and I will be nervous for my forthcoming films too,” shares the actress. The actress who is in her mid-20’s is working round the clock. Doesn’t she think that she’s working too much of her age? “I do work a lot and this is the age to go all out and work. A heroine’s shelf life is less and there are very few who have crossed it and I will be happy if I manage to cross it. I want to make the best out of this life. I do take two to three days off a month to meet my family. Even if I don’t my family won’t bother about it, neither do I. This is the time to work and after that it is the rest, signs off Taapsee who will next be seen in ‘Gundello Godari’ this rainy season. I agree that I was the second lead and had less screen space in ‘Mr Perfect,’ but in ‘Veera’, I had more space, songs and I walk away with the hero in the end. I don’t deem myself as a second fiddle in ‘Veera’ Tapsee on Tapsee in Twitter: Talking about the Twitter note, “The actress who always aims at converting what gives her happiness into what gives her audience the same happiness,” is in the process of fulfilling it. “I’m trying to do it and till my last movie I will keep doing that. My reasons for happiness changes after every movie that I do which in turn converts into my audience happiness after the film releases”. Coming up next in 2012: Her maiden Bollywood debut ‘Chasme Buddoor’ with director David Dhawan Big-budget flick ‘Shadow’ with Venkatesh, ‘Gundello Godari’ with producer-turned-actress Lakshmi Manchu Gopichand’s untitled film Vishnu Vardhan’s Tamil film with Ajith and Arya. Comments Taapsee, “It is an eventful, crucial and decisive year for me in many ways. Let’s see if it’s the time of my life. Whatever will happen, I have my fingers crossed and hope it happens for my good.” Source: The Hans India,
