Taapsee Pannu is undoubtedly one of the best actors in the cinema now. She made her debut with Vetrimaran’s ‘Aadukalam’ and right after that, she had three to four flops then came the calling from Bollywood. Now, she has given us films like Pink, Manmarziyaan, Mulk, Thappad and more.
Talking about her rock bottom moments, at India Today e-Conclave Inspiration, Taapsee Pannu explained how she was called the bad luck after being a part of three to four flops.
“My debut in South was well received and my first few films were huge hits and for a person who had no intention to come into this industry and have a career of this sort, it was like, I got things literally on a platter to begin with.
“So I didn’t struggle before my first film, which is why I didn’t realise how much effort it takes to make a mark here. So after my first film, I ended up having a streak of flops, like I had 3-4 flops in South and I started getting tagged as the bad luck charm and someone who shouldn’t be cast in movies because she’s just jinxing it or she is just being a jinx for the film. And I didn’t understand because I was doing those bare minimal typical heroine roles doing 3 songs and 5 scenes and not that being important in the script actually and I was doing that because I was told that’s how you become a big heroine, doing big films however small your role is.
“Because back to back 4 and 5 of my films didn’t work, I started being tagged as a bad luck charm. People stopped meeting me. Even if the director thought I could do the part, the producer ended up telling him not to take me because of the superstitious bad luck I would bring to the film.
According to them, I was unlucky. They used to call me Iron leg which is like a bad luck charm so that was very disheartening. There were headlines written on news articles in the industry where I was termed as Iron leg.
“That kept happening for over a year or so. And for a person who left Delhi, settled in South, was working there in a new industry, new environment, new kind of work which I had never done before – it was a big blow.
“I had no godfather or friends there who were gonna help me out of the situation so that time I felt very low.
“But at that time one thing I was sure of, and that was that this will not be the end of my life. This was never a dream that I nurtured, in terms of becoming an actor so this by chance, by surprise, by sheer luck has fallen in my lap so its okay if i am not successful, I will do something else. But lets just not make it like the end of my life and think I am good for nothing. I never told my family because they might get scared and they might think that this girl is all alone in a new city with new people.
They might just get so scared that they would want me to come back and I was like I am not going to back, I am going to try again or try something else. I am not going to quit. So, that’s when I asked my sister if she wants to come and stay with me in Hyderabad and get a job here. She had finished her graduation that time. She came down, stayed with me for a year and a half and things started changing slowly because I decided I will not do films to become the Number 1 actress, not do films to become an A-lister or the most talked about heroine there, I will do films I will enjoy working on, I will not force myself on going to sets everyday, my motivation should be right. So, I actually started getting happiness. I used to come back home, used to have my sister when I came back home, which used to give me happiness, it keeps me grounded even till today. For now, I have both of us together in Mumbai,” she concluded.
(EXCERPTS FROM THE INTERVIEW)
