Rise of regional cinema was a matter of time: Taapsee
Actor Taapsee Pannu has seen the best of both worlds — she had a promising career in the south Indian film industries, following a 2010 debut with Jhummandi Naadam, and then a 2013 Bollywood debut with Chashme Baddoor. Her Tamil debut, Aadukalam (2011), won six National Film Awards at the 58th National Film Awards.
This year, her film The Ghazi Attack was named Best Telugu Film at the 65th National Film Awards, with the chairperson of the jury, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, hailing regional cinema. Taapsee says that it was just a matter of time before people realised the quality and reach of regional cinema.
“I think it’s only now that people [in north India] are waking up to the fact that regional cinema is quite capable of giving Hindi cinema a run for its money. But, honestly, having worked there for some years now... I will say that [the capability] was always there,” says Taapsee, who has also been a part of hard-hitting films like Baby (2015) and Pink (2016). “It was just a matter of time before people realised, recognised and opened their eyes to it. I remember when I debuted in regional cinema, my first Tamil film release won six national awards. I don’t know how many films have that kind of a record. That happened in 2011,” she adds.
The 32-year-old actor believes that one of the reasons regional cinema is now receiving attention is its availability on different platforms, giving it more visibility. “People in north India can now use different
I think it’s only now that people [in north India] are waking up to the fact that regional cinema is quite capable of giving Hindi cinema a run for its money.
platforms to see southern cinema... subtitles being easily available. They can now see them, which was not the case before; otherwise it was always there and it was just a matter of time.”
With upcoming films Mulk, Soorma, and Manmarziyan, all belonging to different genres, in her kitty, Taapsee says that while Soorma gave her the opportunity to portray a sportsperson, something she always wanted to do, Manmarziyan has fulfilled her dream of being a part of a “hardcore romantic film”.
“I’ve been waiting to do a love story since the beginning of my career,” she says. “Because the amount of emotion and because of the drama that’s involved in the film... I think I have made up for so many years of not being part of a hardcore love story.”
Asked what kind of films and characters have massaged her ego the most, Taapsee says TAAPSEE PANNU
ACTOR
it’s the audience reaction that matters. “If you do a film where the audience comes out of the theatre and just cannot forget your character... And it has happened with me [for] a couple of films. There are films where we laugh and walk out of a theatre with a smile on your face; but how many times do you take a character back home? Very rarely. So those are the times an actor’s ego is really massaged,” she added.