Taapsee Pannu: 5 things to know about accidental Bollywood actor
Taapsee Pannu has had a successful run in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam films before her two big forthcoming Bollywood releases 'Pink' and 'Tadka'
Pink, which releases on 16 September, revolves around the harassment of three victims of molestation faced during a legal trial. Directed by Bengali film-maker Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury and produced by Shoojit Sircar, the film stars Amitabh Bachchan as a lawyer and Taapsee Pannu as one of the victims. The 29-year old-actor will also be playing the lead in Meera, the prequel to Neeraj Pandey’s spy thriller Baby.
Here are five things you should know about Pannu:
Born into a Sikh family in Delhi, Pannu initially had no plans of acting. While preparing for her MBA entrance examinations, Pannu applied to Channel V’s reality show Get Gorgeous and was selected. After a number of lucrative modelling stints, she lost interest in the profession, saying she wanted “her name [to be] associated with her face".
Pannu began her film career in 2010, working in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam films. She played opposite major stars like Dhanush (with whom she did the National award-winning Aadukalam), Ajit and Prabhas, mostly playing the love interest.
Director David Dhawan cast Pannu as the female lead for Chashme Baddoor (2013), his remake of the 1980s classic. This marked Pannu’s entry into Bollywood, but it wasn’t until Baby (2015) that she delivered her first notable performance in a Hindi film, playing the role of a special agent. The planned prequel, Meera, in which she’ll play the lead role, will trace the roots of her character in Baby. Besides Pink, Pannu will also be seen in Prakash Raj’s Tadka, a Hindi remake of his Tamil hit Un Samayal Arayil, where two foodies fall in love over a misplaced phone call.
Watch Taapsee Pannu in Baby here
Depending on the success of Pink, Pannu’s Runningshaadi.com, a film set in small-town Punjab about an online portal that helps couples elope, may get a release two years after being completed. Shoojit Sircar, who produced the film, also directed this sensuous commercial for Wild Stone with Pannu and her RunningShaadi.com co-actor Amit Sadh.
Pannu performed her own action scenes in Baby instead of using a body double. Currently, she is taking martial arts classes for Meera. She also learned Kathak for eight years from one of Birju Maharaj’s disciples.
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