I Never Got Films With Big Names, Created My Niche: Taapsee Pannu

Taapsee Pannu has begun 2019 on a high with the success of Badla. She has chosen to focus on films that are high concept and unique, and her new release Game Over also promises to be that. Taapsee spoke to The Quint about why she chose to do Game Over, her out-of-the-box choices and why she doesn’t do films with big stars.

Are you thrilled by the success of Badla? It was made on a moderate budget but made a lot of money.

Yes of course, because box office success is what really decides your fate. If the movie is really good or not, if it will be remembered or not. That is the harsh reality. We did expect it to work, but not with these kind of crazy numbers.No songs or funny scenes, no action, none of that typical commercial stuff, but still to reach this close to that golden number was something we really didn’t expect.

You’ve said that the box office is very important to you, but that doesn’t come through in your choices. Because you are so brave in your choices. So, does your instinct tell you that this is going to work?

When I see a film, I see it as an audience. If I spend my money and time on it, and if I feel that I can do it, a lot of us will do it because I am a regular Indian audience who has watched a lot of films while growing up. So when I choose a film, I don’t look at it as a formula film or not. I see whether I feel like spending my time and money in the theatre. It might not be in the mainstream, conventional medium but I feel these are still commercial films because they will hook you to the screen for two hours.

You’ve also consciously done a film in the South. You’ve been doing it every year. Are there interesting enough roles there for you?

Now there is. A few years ago, probably not. That is why my pace of doing films there decreased because I realised that I am not someone who is good in those commercial potboilers, because honestly it was not working for me. So I decided - Let me choose films on the basis of scripts that I like, not because I need to be in a certain set up. I didn’t get too many films in that category from the South because I do have a language constraint. Yes, I have learnt Telugu, I can have a conversation in Telugu but still I can’t speak as fluently as a local person there. So, that limitation will always be there. Keeping that limitation in mind, there might be very few roles that I would fit into, so I’m okay and I’m willing to wait for that.

Game Over stars Taapsee Pannu and is directed by Ashwin Saravanan. The film releases on June 14.

Camera: Sanjoy Deb
Assistant Camera: Gautam Sharma
Video Editor: Veeru Krishan Mohan