South goes North

Taapsee Pannu could be the next big thing in Bollywood

It is not typical of south India to distract an MBA hopeful from an entrance exam. But in Taapsee Pannu’s case, it made a happy exception. Seven years ago, when the young engineer-turned-model from Delhi stepped into the region’s film industry, she spoke not a word of the local languages and harboured wary ambitions. She hedged her bets, juggling movie scripts with CAT preparation books. After the buzz around early releases including Telugu film Jhummandi Naadam (2010) and Tamil film Aadukalam (2011), however, the business of cinema became her main calling. 

Pannu has since broken into Hindi films, finding critical acclaim most recently with titles such as Pink, a courtroom drama where she depicted a sexual assault victim and shared screen space with Amitabh Bachchan, as well as Baby, in which she played a foreign intelligence agent. With four releases planned for 2017, she is also becoming an increasingly visible face. This propels her into an ilk of actors that has not been held back by the lack of a famous surname. “No one in four generations of my family has had anything to do with this industry.” 

She moved to Mumbai three years ago but still has one foot in south Indian showbiz. Telugu cinema in particular, in which she has worked the most, treats Pannu like a queen, with crew members refusing to sit down in her presence. It has not quite been the same here; she has to call her staff several times to get anything done. True Bollywood stardom has yet to come. But as someone who never planned to act, she says any success feels like a serendipitous bonus.

“Every director I have worked with has repeated me after seeing what I am capable of. Every role I get has been from a kind of ripple effect,” she observes from the sofa of her 17th floor apartment that is filled with bird calls and sounds from a nearby construction site. In fact, none of Pannu’s roles has resulted from auditions, which she has often given and always flunked. “I can’t simply talk into a camera. I need an actual setting with others around to be able to act.” 

This spontaneity while filming scenes, she reckons, is both her strength and weakness. “It makes me struggle in conventional auditions or roles that require repeated rehearsals. But it is also something that directors so far have liked.” Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, who directed Pink, echoes this inference. “Her character, Minal, was more about reaction than action. There were no major lines but she managed to deliver depth and emotion within a couple of shots,” he says in a phone interview. 

Her home is decorated minimally except for one striking portrait of Pannu topped with the words, “Do what you love”. Bits of her “very middle-class” roots are visible when the actor disappears to fetch water and chocolates for guests herself. She was born into a Sikh family and raised in north Delhi, as a self-proclaimed tomboy who loved playing street games. “I was a hyperactive child.” 

This is hard to imagine as she moves with a measured gait and maintains graceful posture. Her otherwise curly hair has been tamed into an elegant updo; a pinstriped suit and black heeled boots exude purpose. The fact that she was academically gifted won her other liberties. “I could do well in exams with a few hours of preparation a day or two before. So nobody had reason to complain.”

By the second year of studying software in an engineering college, she lost enthusiasm for the subject. She started an all-girls dance group to compete in college festivals and began modelling to earn pocket money. The print ads for clothing and jewellery brands funded shopping and dinners. She was not much of a cinema buff and never acted on stage growing up. “No plays, not even a skit like Cinderella,” as she puts it.

But she had one of those cute, round faces and nice smiles that convinced south Indian film makers to offer her work. They said they could teach her the language. It would not be a problem because many “girls from the North” had done it before. She did a Google search of the directors and decided they were interesting enough to go ahead. They were K Raghavendra Rao, the director who launched Sridevi, and Vetrimaaran, whose debut fared well with both critics and audiences. 

There were phases where she struggled as a young actor figuring out her career in unfamiliar territory. She trusted local managers and anyone who seemed helpful. “The trend for heroines was to work with big actors or producers, no matter what the role was.” She has learnt to pick roles carefully now, judging by the director’s name and her own tastes as a viewer.

Hindi films, because she was accustomed to the culture, were a natural next step. In 2013, when David Dhawan was looking for a younger version of Preity Zinta to cast in his Chashme Baddoor, someone recommended her name. While the film was unremarkable, remembered mainly for ruining a much-loved 1980s classic, it got her more work. 

Most people in Bollywood lately come with some academic knowledge of cinema, she says. The lack of training in theatre or film has been a challenge but she has learnt to channel the inherent drama in her personality into the craft. She talks to the director until she knows the role, and prepares by looking at relevant videos or spending time with people similar to her character. Pannu says she makes no friends in showbiz and surrounds herself with “real” people instead because that helps her portray everyday characters.

Director Roy Chowdhury notes that her presence is almost tangible “even when she is just there on screen not saying anything”. In one scene of Pink, shot with three cameras, Pannu as Minal is molested by men in a moving car. When they played the shot on set, she looked so helpless and convincing that Vijay Varma who acted as one of the men molesting her was moved to tears. 

Neeraj Pandey, while directing Baby, had already started writing the upcoming Naam Shabana in his head. Pannu, who had a brief role in the first part, assumes the lead in this venture. “There was a mystery about the character, it was never revealed where she came from, how she became an agent. So I made it clear to her that if Baby works, there would be another film,” he recalls. 

What constitutes her success, Pandey observes, is the time-tested attribute of hard work. “She puts in the hours.” Pannu says she is a happy person, so much so that before filming an emotionally-charged or melancholic scene, she has to isolate herself for at least 30 minutes and focus on sad thoughts. “If I talk to anyone, I won’t feel that anger or pain.” 

She did not have to do that for her latest film Running Shaadi, a comedy backed by director-producer Shoojit Sircar. She felt at home with the character: a sardarni from Amritsar who is involved in managing an offbeat wedding company. The actor herself owns a wedding planning business in partnership with her sister, Shagun, and a friend. 

Pannu is not planning for the future because “nothing goes according to my expectations.” Her disposition seems cheerily brisk, and aware that things can be ephemeral. There are many other interests she could potentially pursue, travelling and starting small businesses, for instance. If acting fails to excite her some day, she insists she will pack up and walk away from it. Perhaps even dust off those old CAT books.