I feel I’m a perpetual struggler: Taapsee

From proving her acting prowess in Pink (2016) and Naam Shabana, to revealing her glamorous side in Bollywood with an out-and-out commercial venture like Judwaa 2, Taapsee Pannu has seen the best of both worlds. But the actor doesn’t feel she can relax just yet. “I still feel that I need to continue giving hits, and don’t know when this feeling will go. I feel that I’m a perpetual struggler. I always keep struggling to get certain roles or films,” says Taapsee. While it’s natural for audiences to feel that Taapsee has finally arrived on the big stage, and will now be seen doing more commercial films, the actor retorts, “I don’t know what ‘finally arriving’ means. There’s no moment when I can say ‘Ab toh jo main karna chahti hoon, wahi karungi (Now I’ll do whatever I want to do) without thinking what happens next’.” Taapsee has worked with industry veterans such as Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar and younger actors such as Varun Dhawan and Jacqueline Fernandez. Does she feel like a star? “No, I genuinely don’t, with the kind of struggle I’ve had to go through. There are a lot of things I still want to do, and I’ll always have to struggle to get them. I’ll have to make sure things happen eventually, and don’t slip from under my nose. I’ll always have to be on my toes,” she says. The actor, who is from Delhi, adds that she feels like an outsider in Mumbai even today. “Even today, I get conscious when I enter an event or an award show, wondering if people know me. Will they recognise me? Will they even realise and notice if I am sitting there, or will I be just looked through?” she reveals.

I don’t feel like a star, with the kind of struggle I’ve had to go through. I’ll always have to struggle to do a lot of things I want to do TAAPSEE PANNU, ACTOR