“I know what it is like for women in Delhi” – Taapsee Pannu

By Subhash K. Jha -

August 27, 2016 - 10:55 AM IST

For Taapsee Pannu the journey in Bollywood so far has been a portrait of courage and unconventionality.

“I know what it is like for women in Delhi” – Taapsee Pannu

"From the time I came into Hindi cinema with Chashme Buddoor I've chosen projects not for their commercial viability but for what I feel was right for me. There are so many fish in the ocean. I had to be a different kind of fish," says Taapsee whose forthcoming Hindi project Pink is one of the most talked-about films in recent times.

"I get a lot of that reaction," Taapsee laughs pleasurably. "When I was offered Pink by (producer) Shoojit Sircar, I knew this was going to be a powerful statement on contemporary women and sexual aggression. The film is set in Delhi and I am a Delhi girl. I know what it is like for women to be heckled, harassed and attacked, and I don't mean attacked just physically. Verbal eve's teasing is as insulting and damaging to a woman as physical assault. Why do we segregate and discriminate one sort of violation from another?"

For Taapsee playing a Delhi girl who is sexually molested in Pink was not easy. "Every day I'd come on the set to face one more day of the most gruelling scenes. No sensitive person could remain unaffected by the situation I had to go through and the dialogues I had to speak. I have to admit Pink has been the most challenging role of my career."