'Actors Have to Bear The Brunt When Directors Are Confused': Raveena & Taapsee

Raveena Tandon & Taapsee Pannu on their 'biggest fear' as actors.

Taapsee Pannu and Raveena Tandon speak about working with 'confused' directors.

(Photo Courtesy: Instagram)

Raveena Tandon and Taapsee Pannu have said that as actors they fear not understanding the vision of directors. During the Actors Roundtable 2021 with Rajeev Masand, the duo agreed that actors have to 'bear the brunt' because of 'confused' filmmakers.

"There are times when the director is confused. Achha aise nahi, chalo aise try karte hai (Not this, let’s try something else). But we can’t do that sir, because this is the attitude that’s needed. Then at that time, you are conflicted in your mind that what does he really want from the character? Does he want it this way or does he want it that way? And then it becomes little bit of a mess".

Raveena Tandon, Actor

When asked if conversations about how to portray a character take place before shoot Taapsee told Masand, "They do, but on set, it suddenly changes. This has happened despite having discussed and thought that ‘ok, this should be the approach of the character’, and then you reach the set and are (asked to) react in a different way. But then I say that 'it's not in line with the discussion that we had before'. However, the director says, ‘no, in this situation just react, just do as I say’. This scares me. You have to at least tell me so that I know the graph in my head -- where I start, where I am ending, what's my next shot. Where do I pick up the emotion of the next shot? You can't just say ‘Ye bhi karlo, wo bhi karlo, jo better hoga wo dekhlenge’ (do this, do this as well, we will take the better shot)".

Raveena added that actors are on the receiving end because of the confusion of filmmakers.

"In the end, it's the brunt that the actor's face. Because when the reviews come out, it's like ‘Oh, she didn’t do it that way'. Dude, I was told to do it this way".

Raveena Tandon, Actor

Echoing the Aranyak actor's thought Taapsee continued, "Sometimes, they edit. There is a transition shot that we have given and it is edited out because of the length or whatever. I am like, ‘How will I make sense, I am in this emotion and now suddenly I am in this emotion'. There was a transition shot but they say ‘no it was not needed’. I look bad as an actor because I couldn’t show the emotion."