I still enter award shows wondering if people recognise me: Taapsee Pannu

Actor Taapsee Pannu, who has a standout performance in Pink and a big hit in Judwaa 2 to her name, says that she still hasn’t reached a point in her acting career where she can do films without worrying about their box office results.

From proving her acting prowess in films such as Pink (2016) and Naam Shabana (2017), to revealing her glamorous side in Bollywood with an out-and-out commercial venture like Judwaa 2, Taapsee Pannu has seen the best of both worlds. But the actor doesn’t feel she can relax just yet.

Actor Taapsee Pannu says that she will always have to be on her toes to make sure things go right for her.

“I still feel that I need to continue giving hits, and don’t know when this feeling will go. I feel that I’m a perpetual struggler. I always keep struggling to get certain roles, and when I get them, I struggle to get certain types of films. So, it’s always sort of a struggle one way or the other,” says Taapsee.

While it’s natural for audiences to feel that Taapsee has finally arrived on the big stage, and will now be seen doing more commercial films in Bollywood, the actor retorts, “I don’t know what ‘finally arriving’ means. There’s no moment when I can say ‘Ab toh jo main karna chahti hoon, wahi karungi (Now I’ll do whatever I want to do) without thinking what happens next’. I haven’t reached that point yet.”

Now Taapsee has worked with industry veterans such as Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar and younger actors such as Varun Dhawan and Jacqueline Fernandez. Does she feel like a star? “No, I genuinely don’t feel like a star, with the kind of struggle I’ve had to go through. There are a lot of things I still want to do, and I’ll always have to struggle to get them. I’ll always have to make sure things happen eventually, and don’t slip from my hands, from under my nose. I’ll always have to be on my toes,” she says.

The actor, who is from Delhi, adds that she feels like an outsider in Mumbai even today, and has many things going on in her head while attending events full of people from Bollywood. “Even today, I get conscious when I enter an event or an award show, wondering if people know me. Will they recognise me? Will they even realise and notice if I am sitting there, or will I be just looked through?” she reveals.

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