Life is something that happens to you while you are busy making plans.Taapsee Pannu, Actor, quoting John Lennon
We know her today as an actress but Taapsee started her career as a software engineer. She describes herself as a ‘nerdy girl’ who loved Maths and Physics. It would come as a surprise, but she even got an offer letter from Infosys. But because she never wanted a 9 to 5 job, so she began accepting film offers from Telugu and Tamil film industries. Today she is known for her performances in Pink, Mulk and the recently released Anurag Kashyap’s Manmarziyaan.
At The Quint's 'Me, the Change' event, presented by Facebook India, on Thursday, 17 January, the acclaimed actress felicitated 10 incredible women from across India and spoke to them about their inspiring stories and shared her experiences with them.
‘Women Are Synonymous With Grace’
Speaking to The Quint’s founder Raghav Bahl, Taapsee said, “I was delighted to get so many fan mails from women after Marmaziyaan for portraying a bindaas girl who was confident about her sexuality, who was okay with her flaws. Why should women control what they think?"
She added, “Females are synonymous with grace. You can be a wrestler, you can be a dancer. You are born graceful. You can never change that about yourself.”
Being an outsider in the Hindi film industry and having faced her own share of struggles, Taapsee believes quitting is never a choice.
She said, “ Everybody struggles. Nobody should compare that I struggled more or less. But what is more important is that everyone decided to see life beyond the struggle. Instead of looking at it like a road block, should look at it like a speed breaker. Giving up is not a choice .”
She did not consider rejection as the end of the world. She believed in channelling it positively, trying endlessly until she reached her goal. When someone told her she cannot be a model, she made it a point to become a show stopper some day.
At the event, Taapsee played the dhol with Chandigarh’s Jahan Geet Singh. She learnt a couple of moves from Dangal Queen Divya Kakran and learnt how to sign from Deshna Jain who is a deaf model.
In the end Taapsee urged every woman to vote. Reiterating that it’s a right that we have and we must exercise it.
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