Taapsee is returning to Telugu cinema after a long time. She made a splash with K Raghavendra Rao’s Jhummandi Nadam but after that she got stuck in a whirlpool of commercial cinema where she had almost nothing to do except look glamorous. There were a couple of films that showed the actor’s potential but they didn’t make a mark at the box office. In an industry where only success at the box office determines one’s position, Taapsee had to pull along for around four years before she moved to Bollywood. Anando Brahma directed by Mahi releases on August 18 and the actor is delighted to be back and this time she is in the spotlight for playing the main lead.
A lot is being discussed about your comments on your debut director.
The interview held on a digital platform was self deprecatory in nature. I really wish the people who are writing things about me see the entire video before wrongly interpreting it. No one bothers to see the entire 15-minute stuff, they are just jumping onto what they wish to circulate. I was talking about how naïve and ignorant I was at that time, I was making fun of my situations and experience over a period of time in personal and professional life, this being one of them. If you cut that 5 seconds in the 15 minute interview and listen to the rest of the stuff it comes across differently to different people. I have clarified and also mentioned that it was not my intention to hurt. I have never made fun of anyone, it was projected wrongly. I don’t want to go through the drill of clarifying again and again, that’s why I said I am sorry and I didn’t intend to hurt anyone.
You said the Telugu audience recognised your talent only after ‘Pink’ released?
I did glamorous films here and I said it was only after Pink and Naam Shabana that people realised I can act. I never said I was not proud of it. When I started acting in my own language, I realised what all I am capable of doing. I did learn Telugu but my first language will always be my mother tongue and I will obviously have a comfort zone there because of the command over the language. When I began working in Bollywood, I realised my potential only after seeing myself in those roles. I will never forget the fact that glamour helped me.
‘Ulavacharu Biryani’ hasn’t done well commercially, you are in its remake.
It has been a very glowing year. Thankfully the patience I had in the last one year paid off. The confidence an actor gets when choices work is different. I didn’t get those roles…I never got a chance to do a glam roles like Judwa a in Bollywood till now. It was because David Dhawan saw my South films and he thought I can pull off commercial films, he didn’t even take my audition. These are the films that have a very wide reach and every actor needs that. Having said that, I also want to be a part of multiplex cinema. For instance Tadka is a remake of Prakash Raj’s film Salt and Pepper and Ulavacharu Biryani in Telugu. I have not seen the original but when I heard the character sketch and the idea and the soul of the film, I liked it. I don’t know if it will work or not but I did not shy away from taking up the project.
You surprised all by picking a movie woven around comedians.
People have the impression that we work in the south Indian industry to earn big money and work with big heroes. Anando Brahma doesn’t have big heroes and I am not being paid a fortune. I am doing it when I have a lot of Hindi films on hand and when people say I have no reason to do this movie. Actually the concept excited me. When director Mahi told me the concept, it was so interesting, as an audience I would definitely pay money to go and see a film like Anando Brahma . It is about ghosts being scared of humans and that was funny idea. I felt I should somehow take out time to do this movie.
What prompted you to move to Bollywood?
After a point I realised I need to feel excited to go to the sets every day. There is a difference between doing a certain film which every one wants you to do and the one you wanted to do. I did make decent amount of money, may be not like other actresses. I have enough to live a good life, at the end of the day you need to be happy. I am proud of the choices I made lately. I might not be the biggest star here but when I think of a longer run and I question myself if I will be able to do such roles for 40 or 50 days, I decided I can’t. I chose my happiness. So I left and waited for a year. I thought it might not work out in Bollywood.
I dragged myself through days when I was told that this is the path I should take to be there. I was told to finalise films based who the hero is who the producer and director is; It doesn’t matter what the character and what the story was. It wasn’t working for me, it wasn’t reflecting. Rather than making a fool of myself I thought I better take a back seat and do some soul searching. I will definitely do commercial films because I grew up watching them. I’m keen to do a mix of multiplex and mass films.
