TAAPSEE’S BREAKOUT
For someone who grew up never wanting to act, Taapsee Pannu is about to have the year of her life in 2017. In February, the Pink actress will appear in two films. As the female lead of Runningshaadi.com, a romantic comedy, she plays Nimmi, a feisty Punjabi woman “who always needs to have the last word”. She also has a cameo in The Ghazi Attack, an action thriller that takes place at sea. In late March, she will star in
Naam Shabana, her first heroine-led project, which traces the journey of the spy she played in Neeraj Pandey’s Baby (2015). “I never dreamed that I would get a title role so early in my career,” she says. “I can literally count on my fingers the number of people I know in the film industry.”
Apart from filmmakers Shoojit Sircar and Pandey, they include her Chashme Baddoor director David Dhawan, with whom she collaborates again for Judwaa 2—slated for release in September. She is also not giving up on South Indian cinema, where she got her first break. She will soon start shooting a horror comedy in Telugu.
An engineer by education, Pannu owns a wedding planning company called Wedding Factory, which she runs in partnership with her sisters and friends. The idea was to do something completely removed from the frenetic and absorbing world of films, she says. Specialising in décor, it’s not only for brides who have crores to throw at their big day. “I love creating fantasy worlds,” Pannu says. “It is not like ‘Itna budget hoga toh hi [if the budget is big], only then will Taapsee be a part of it’.”