Working With Amitabh Bachchan Was An Unsettling Experience For Taapsee

In Annirudh Roychoudhury’s eagerly awaited  Pink Taapsee got the chance to work with the mighty Amitabh Bachchan.

And Tapsee says it was an experience of a lifetime. “I remember on the night before I was to shoot with him on the first day I kept convincing myself that I had to act normal and be professional with THAT LEGEND. The next morning my scene with Mr Bachchan was luckily very simple. I had to lie on the couch sleeping while he spoke to someone behind me. I fidgeted so  much , my eyes kept blinking…the easiest shot became the most difficult shot in the film.”

What made it even more challenging was the fact that Tapsee had to play the traumatized sexually violated girl without hysteria or melodrama. “From the start Shoojit Sir(Sircar) and my director Annirudh Roychoudharywere clear that my  character would NOT SHED A SINGLE TEAR, no matter how much violation and humiliation she suffered. That she would keep it all  pent up inside her right till the end. Even  In the climactic courtroom scene when the Judge announces his verdict I was not allowed the comfort of tears.”

Holding back the emotions, says Tapsee, worked out for the best.  “The impact of showing minimal emotions is chilling. We in Indian cinema  don’t like to  hold back emotions. We like to show  all of it coming out in a flow. I realized while shooting in Pink  there is much virtue in restrain.”

Restrain was also extended to her look in Pink. “This is the first film I’ve done with absolutely no makeup. And believe me, it was liberating. I’ve always felt burdened with the war paint that we girls are required to put on for the camera.I don’t use any makeup in real life. I don’t even know how to apply an eyeliner on my own. In many ways the character I play in Pink is closest to who I am in real life, though luckily I’ve never gone through what my character has to suffer in the film.”

The film’s title Pink is a colour associated with femininity. Isn’t that a bit of stereotyping? “On the contrary,” says Tapsee. “why does pink have to be the colour of delicacy? We’ve used it as a colour of strength and solidarity.”

Those who have seen Tapsee’s work  in Pink are already predicting awards for the actress.

“Ah, we shall see about that! This is what people said to me after Baby.  But I didn’t even get nominated in the ‘action’ categories although most critics, including you, said you had never seen an Indian actress perform such stunts. Other actresses who did practically nothing except flail their limbs got nominated that year. But it’s okay. What has to happen will happen.”