Taapsee Pannu talks about film industry's obsession with female actors' cleavage, midriff; defends doing glamorous roles

Taapsee Pannu addressed film industry's fixation on female midriffs and cleavage, clarifying her previous comments were misinterpreted.

Bollywood actor Taapsee Pannu recently addressed the film industry’s obsession with female actors’ midriffs and cleavage. The actor clarified that her earlier remarks about Bollywood being obsessed with cleavage and the South film industry with midriffs were taken out of context. She also revealed why she initially chose not to take up such roles at the start of her career.

Taapsee Pannu talked about the film industry's obsession with female actor's cleavage and midriff.

Taapsee Pannu on film industry's obsession with female actors' cleavage and midriff

Earlier, in an interview with Galatta Plus, Taapsee explained that in a previous podcast she was asked about the South industry’s alleged obsession with the midriff and told that Hindi cinema focuses more on a female actor’s cleavage. However, her response was taken out of context. She added that, for her, the issue is about a certain gaze, whether it is the cleavage or the midriff.

She further clarified that she never demarcated it as Hindi being obsessed with cleavage and the South with midriffs. She also spoke about how she was never asked to expose her midriff or pad her bras in Bollywood, but was asked to do so in the South, largely because she did not take up glamorous roles in Hindi cinema.

She said, “I don’t know what the obsession is, but let’s own that there’s an obsession, whether in Hindi or in the South. Which part of yours is highlighted, that’s not the point. The point is, there’s an obsession. It was obviously awkward for the director as well because they had to convey this to me. And how do you do that when the set hardly has any women, right? So, you have to convey it indirectly. When she comes back from the van, the director obviously has to check whether it works or not. So, this whole process is slightly awkward.”

She further defended taking up those parts and said, “I was too new. I thought this was how it’s done. The director is the captain of the ship, and you have to listen to the captain. I had to do it, unless it was really crossing the line. You also feel this is what heroines are doing, so I’m also supposed to do this. I never look back at it thinking I wish I hadn’t done those parts. Because if I didn’t do it, I’d always be craving to do that. No matter what you do, you want to be called a mainstream actress. Unless you do those parts, you won’t be called a mainstream actress.”

About Taapsee Pannu’s recent release

Taapsee is currently winning praise for her performance in Assi, directed by Anubhav Sinha. The courtroom drama, which sees Taapsee play a lawyer fighting to secure justice for a rape survivor, also stars Kani Kusruti, Revathi, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub in key roles. The film has received a mixed response from critics and has so far collected over ₹5 crore at the box office.