Taapsee Pannu: “ I Was Tagged Iron Lady In Telugu Cinema”

As  Tapsee prepares  to play a sprinter  in her next  film, she  looks back without rancour  on her days of rejection. “In the Telugu film industry I was called  the ‘Iron Leg’ which means   a bad-luck charm. They have these tags  for the female actors: Golden Leg, Iron Leg….None of male actors are ever labeled  in this way.”

She hasn’t forgotten the hurt. “I  wish I  had saved all those articles calling me those names. But  they were too hurtful  to save back then. I  never I’d turn the tables one day.”

An Tapsee Pannu’s  career is skyrocketing . After  another success in Mission Mangal   she is awaiting the release  of  Sandh Ki Aankh where she plays a  real-life shooter  from rural UP.

And  now she will play a Gujarati racetrack sprinter in  Akarsh Khurana’s Rashmi Rocket . Tapsee, already very athletic  in  her demeanour(she  played  a hockey  player in Soorma) will have to train  from scratch  for this part.

She informs me, “I will have to do a  full physical makeover for this  role. I start  shooting from next  month onwards.”

So is  the role based  on  a real-life sprinter?

“It’s  not a proper  bio-pic. But a story based on real incidents. My character is a bit like P T Usha, Hima Das andDutee Chand. But really not any of the above.”d  how!