Taapsee Pannu: I am scared when people say ‘she’s at her career best’

Actor Taapsee Pannu, who had a satisfying 2020 in terms of her career, says she gets afraid when people say ‘she’s at the top of her game’ as that means the only way forward, is downwards.

2020 for sure threw a lot of things and plans out of array. But for Taapsee Pannu, the year started, and is ending on a professional high. Thappad released in February to good reviews and box office collections, before the Covid 19 pandemic soon took over.

Actor Taapsee Pannu has four films lined up next

As soon as the lockdown ended, she was back to work, with as many as four films lined up next- Rashmi Rocket, Loop Lapeta, Haseen Dilruba and Shabaash Mithu. Talking about her hectic schedule, Pannu says, “I am yet to finish Rashmi... I literally have no life. My entire day is divided between sleeping, working and working out. Every 15 minutes are rationed. There is no time for anything else now.”

DON’T CALL IT THE ‘PURPLE PATCH’

Clearly, the 33-year-old has a lot on her plate. She doesn’t believe this is her ‘purple patch’ just yet though. 

“Because patches last for a limited time. I am very scared when I read reviews and people say ‘she’s at the best of her game’ or at her career best. It’s scary because then you feel there is going to be a decline. If you reach the peak, the only way ahead is to come down, and that’s a crazy thought,” she confesses.

What she however feels happy about is that her choices are getting ‘validated’. Pannu says she goes through a lot of ‘testing’ in terms of filtering content. She explains this is because she is seen in multiple projects back to back. “People see me in three-four films a year, sometimes (I almost think) people might get too bored of me, or too much of me. If you are coming so many times, you have to make sure that your content is different from the other, and people don’t really get bored. Whatever you do should be different from what you have done before, otherwise you might just get too monotonous for people. But the fact is none of them are worth dropping!,” she explains.

RE RELEASE OF THAPPAD

While Covid 19 certainly shut down theatres until they reopened in October 15, what must have made her feel good is the fact that Thappad was re released to lure back audiences. 

Pannu says it felt ‘nice’ that it was considered ‘worthy’ of re releasing. But there was another thought in her head. She tells us, “I was not thinking just about myself and my film, I wanted to think more from my audience’ situation. I was like why don’t we release those films which people don’t watch anymore, like old classics? Thappad had recently released, and people who didn’t watch it in theatres watched it on OTT or television, it was too fresh in the minds of people to see.”

In fact, she is not sure if it was a great idea. “It wasn’t really needed at that time, when the need of the hour was to get people into theatres. I don’t know if it was that great a decision… we can feel happy for being selected, but that would be a very selfish thing to do,” says the actor.

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