Taapsee Pannu: “This pressure of doing issue-based cinema is something I enjoy”

With films such as ‘Pink’ (2016), ‘Naam Shabana’ (2017) and ‘Mulk’ (2018) to her credit, Taapsee Pannu has proved her acting prowess time and again. Even her upcoming releases boast of being out-of-the-box stories and content-driven scripts. Asked if it comes naturally to her or she has taken it upon herself to do such socially-relevant films, Pannu says she neither sees it as a responsibility nor has it ever been a burden.

“This pressure of doing issue-based cinema is something I enjoy. It gives me a high. As an actor, it’s a blessing to work on films that convey a message. We have ample opportunities to present fictional stories where there is nothing about mudda (issue), but very rarely do we get a chance to showcase a mudda that we believe in. Ab jaruri thode na hain ki main har ek mudde mein vishwas rakhu,” says Pannu.

“I will talk about issues whenever I get the opportunity to do so. It’s not like I’ll stand outside my house and scream about an issue. But, if I get a film that highlights an issue that I strongly believe in, I will latch on it without thinking twice,” she maintains.

Pannu feels there’s a “sense of achievement” when she does content-driven films, reports the Hindustan Times. “I get to meet so many people who bump into me on a flight and say, ‘I’m a businessman, I don’t watch too many films but you’re a commendable actor’. So, they make me realise that I’m targeting the audience, which is beyond the usual film viewers. This makes me feel super proud,” says Pannu, who is currently busy promoting her film ‘Badla’ alongside Amitabh Bachchan that releases soon.

However, Pannu points that she often finds herself in a dilemma while choosing films, as the audience is “never satisfied enough”. She says, “We’re a part of the generation that has world content to consume. So, when we [Bollywood] make popcorn films, people point fingers at us and say, ‘You’re only capable of doing this and you can’t compete with world cinema’. And when we make socially-relevant films that actually require brains, then people say Bollywood is trying to be preachy and we’re not going to theatre to study science. Dono cases mein hi gaaliyan padti hain.”

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