‘I STILL FEEL LIKE A STRUGGLER’

Taapsee Pannu says that she is yet to touch stardom, and will work hard until she finds it

Actor Taapsee Pannu started her career as a model in 2008 and made her acting debut in Telugu film, Jhummandi Naadam in 2010. Three years later, she stepped into Bollywood with Chashme Baddoor after which she went on to do movies such as Pink (2016), Naam Shabana and Judwaa 2 (2017). But the actor says that she is yet to touch stardom and still feels like a struggler.

“Yes, I don’t even feel like a star. I still feel like a struggler because I need to work hard and make sure that my Friday works for me. I still don’t feel that I am the one who will get the audience into theatres as yet. I don’t see if I have that pull,” says Taapsee. “The day I feel my audience is taking a ticket of my film and says that ‘it’s Taapsee’s film, let’s go and watch it’ that’s the day I will believe that I am a star,” she adds.

She says she does not want to get stuck in a particular genre. “I don’t want them (the audience) to stereotype me because then the impact of hard-hitting films will die down after a time because they will know what they can expect out of me. So, the fun is to mix and match,” she adds.

Pannu says that when she made her debut, she only saw particular actors, who weren’t termed as mainstream heroines doing femalecentric movies.

“But within four years, you can see such a huge change where all the female A-listers and mainstream female actors are doing at least one femalecentric film a year, which is so beautiful to see. And, the result of it is at par with malecentric films.”

I still don’t feel I am the one who will get audiences into theatres. The day I feel that my audience is taking a ticket of my film and says that ‘it’s Taapsee’s film, let’s go and watch it’ that’s the day I’ll believe that I am a star.

TAAPSEE PANNU ACTOR