How Taapsee Pannu Made A Career Out Of A Seven Minute role

Bollywood actress Taapsee Pannu is at the pinnacle of her career. She has a number of exciting projects in the works, including the Netflix feature 'Looop Lapeta,' an official Hindi version of the German classic 'Run Lola Run.' She portrays a quirky woman who becomes trapped in a time loop while attempting to save her partner from certain death.

Pannu joked about the process of making 'Looop Lapeta,' saying it was like "college ka experimental cinema" that she was doing on the side and it gave her quite a rush. She says, “It felt like we were working on ‘college ka experimental cinema’. The cast and crew were filled with so much ‘josh’ and passion, we all wanted to make something ‘zabardast’. It also helps when you don’t take things too ‘heavy-duty’, and make a film while having fun. That vibe is reflecting in our film.”

When asked, what motivates her to try out so many different roles? And does she not worry becoming lost in the flood of 'non - conventional' roles she has recently taken on? The actor said, “I have made a career out of playing tricky roles, as I’ve never got conventional roles to play.”

Pannu, who plays Savi in the Aakash Bhatia film, says, “People used to say that a certain film is commercial and some were ‘off-beat’, film used to be categorised this way. But, for me, there are only two types of films, one that is entertaining, by which I mean that it will keep you glued. Or the film that is not entertaining. A film can keep you glued because it is so intense, or it can keep you glued because it is so funny. There can be multiple reasons, but the end result should be that it should keep you glued.”

“When people would ask me why I didn’t work in ‘commercial cinema’, I wouldn’t understand the question. What is commercial cinema? The one that makes money, or the one that keeps the audience glued to their seats and they want to watch it, come out of the theatre and tell others to watch it too. I am part of these kind of films (the latter), and these for me are commercial films. Commercial films are those which give you the ‘paisa-vasool’ feeling, and the one that the audiences sits and watches without getting distracted. For me to do a film, this is the basic mandate,” she adds.

When asked about her role in 'Saand Ki Aankh,' in which she co-starred with Bhumi Pednekar, she claims she was "desperately searching" for a multi-starrer at the time. “I wanted a film where I could share the screen space with more female protagonists. That’s why I went behind that script to get it. Even now when people come and ask me what kind of stuff I’d like to do, I always talk about how I want to do a film where there are multiple characters at the same level. It is just that, for that purpose, the other actors should also be okay to do that. But, I really never wanted this message to go out that I am not okay not playing a central part because I have made a career out of a seven-minute role that really did wonders for me. It is more challenging to make your presence felt if you have a lesser screen space and time. And that’s the kind of challenge that, as an actor, excites me. I am just waiting for someone to give me that part, as it is not about the length of the role but the fact that the character’s presence should be felt. Even if you give me only 1-2 scenes, I know I’ll make the most of it.”

Pannu also says it is the best phase in her career as “the best scrips written, with central female protagonist” are coming to her. “I am glad that I am getting central roles, I can unabashedly say that some of the best scripts in the industry with a female protagonist come to me, and I am not going to be modest about it. People come to me and tell me ‘this is written for you’, that’s the kind of situation I have no complaints about. But it is not because I wanted to be the centre of attention but because it just so happened, maybe we can call it the snowball effect for doing the kind of films that I have done and I am happy to be where I am today. I have no complaints either way,” Taapsee adds.