Taapsee Pannu On Marriage & The Best  Year  Of Her Life

Taapsee Pannu On Marriage & The Best  Year  Of Her Life

How has life  changed  after marriage?

Well, I think nothing changed and that was the  condition for me to get married. The fact that nothing should change and both me and Mathias (Boe) were  on the same page as far  as  that(marriage)  was concerned. So, yes, nothing has changed except the fact that I had

to throw an expensive party for all my family and friends. So, it did reduce my bank balance a

little bit.

Is it getting increasingly difficult for you to  find roles  that excite you?

Well, yes, you are right, it gets a little difficult to find roles that don’t overlap with your previous characters because yes, we do have limitations in terms of strong, sensible or you know in-depth characters  for  women are written .Definitely they do come to me but somewhere,they want me to do the do similar stuff. So, I have to try and see how I can change things  because sometimes I don’t get that many different diverse options to choose from and I don’t want to keep repeating myself otherwise it will feel like a desk job which I don’t want to do.So, yeah, so it does get difficult and hence the pace of the things as you mentioned before will obviously change because there will be these few little gems I’ll be able to find here and there. So, the audience I hope they keep, they have some patience with me while I choose  something that’s really worth everybody’s time and money.

Walk me through your plans for 2025?

 My plans are very obvious and simple nothing so excitingly different. I do intend to  go ahead with  films that are going to have higher stakes than previous films so that I can continue  getting some really good budgets approved for my films because then with your film successful only then you know you get bigger budgets for your next films so that I can make films with bigger  stakes more challenges because then it’s going to be exciting for me to or do those films and  the audience will be excited to watch it because they’ll know something different is coming.I’m planning… I’m hoping I’m going to balance my OTT and theatrical  presence.Apart from Gandhari directed  by Devashish Makhija , nothing has been announced so I unfortunately cannot tell you much about it but I can definitely say that there  will be something announced very soon for you to know what I’m planning to do in 2025.

And  as a  producer?

As far as my film  production  is concerned ,it’s liberating more than liberating I’ll say  you feel a  sense of ownership, because  you are the one who’s going to put  things together put the team  together choose the right person to do a certain role and that’s very…you know, that gives a sense of responsibility but it’s also extremely challenging .

More challenging than  being an actor?

As an actor you’re only responsible for your yes or no but when you become a producer you’re responsible to get a yes from everybody and hoping everybody’s  on the same page and keep everyone together which is a far more difficult and challenging  than just being an actor on set.

How  do you  look back on the year?

I think I’ve had a prolific year  in a different way than the previous  years. I had  Dunki  last year, which was possibly, you know, my biggest film after so  many years, even with the amount of money it collected, I can say that. And this year,I had like these two releases back to back, which was so diverse, got me so much of recognition  and love, had my own franchise going. So, it was prolific in its own way. I don’t know,maybe the definition of prolific will change every year.And the pace has changed and that was plan and unplanned both.

How so?

Planned   in a way because , see the things need to change after a certain years, because after you’ve done  a  certain kind of work and people say, ‘I’ve seen you and know what you’re capable of’. You need to  up the stakes, change the route a little bit and try  more unknown territories slowly. Hence the pace will change and not otherwise like not for the sake of, you know, like doing  different kind of films for or the  heck of it, but purely because I want to increase the

stakes of my films now.

You had  two very disparate  releases Phir Ayee Haseen Dilruba  and Khel Khel Mein in 2025?

Yeah, these were two very different films that released, unfortunately,for me, they released within a week. I would have liked it to be spaced out more, but then  it’s not really in my hand. The good thing was , they released on different mediums  and there were such different genres, such different characters that they had their own presence.Haseen Dilruba  gave me a franchise of my own and after the successful Part 2,it just solidified its presence as a franchise. And  the   next part should be in the making  whenever the maker’s feel is at  right time and the right script to do it. Whereas  Khel Khel  Mein  gave me a film which showed me in the comic light and even in the big ensemble,gave me a presence of my own character that stayed with people after the film got over. I had some beautiful lines in the film I feel and I really enjoyed playing that

and the audience seemed to have enjoyed watching me do it too. So, I guess these were two very

different in  a  really good way and worked very well for me.

In  Khel Khel Mein you played  a  vulnerable  character for a change?

You know, most of my characters start off vulnerable and but slowly find their own. Usually that’s the arc for a lot of these female characters that I have portrayed. So, hence this also might be around that, but again in a different way because I’ve never been so so …submissive .The genre and tone of the film was also  such that I had to portray it in a certain way and I tried doing that because I feel an  actor’s job is to actually give into the genre and the tone of the film. So, I did that.Eventually she does take control or does find her voice and she says what she  has always had in her mind . I think the way Mudassar Ali  had written it  was so beautiful that even in an ensemble that character could really hold its own. I think my job was more than half done with the writing that Mudassar  had given me. So,my job was just to not spoil it. I’m just so grateful that someone like him had the courage to come with such a character for  me because these in- your-face vulnerable characters are not the  ones that  filmmakers   really reach out to me for. So, I’m really happy that he thought of me .

In Khel  Khel Mein you also showed  a comic flair?

Mudassar  believed that I can have a sense of comic timing in this kind of zone as well. So,

yeah, I mean I rarely got to do comedy so I really enjoy doing comedy a little bit of it.I tried  it in Dunki   and now in this… I think it really made me have fun with my character and I

think that’s where the audience also enjoyed it.