Actor Taapsee Pannu has opened up about some uncomfortable experiences female performers face in the Indian film industry, particularly while working in South cinema. In a recent discussion on the Shubhankar Mishra podcast, she spoke candidly about how aesthetic suggestions on set at times cross professional boundaries.
Taapsee, who has worked extensively across Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi films, said that directors in the South would occasionally ask actresses to wear padded bras during song shoots or scenes designed to accentuate certain physical features. She described how the instruction typically gets passed down on set, from director to assistant director, then to styling and wardrobe teams, and finally to the actress, making an already awkward situation even more uncomfortable.
“Just imagine how embarrassing it would be,” she said, illustrating how a performer might be asked to step away in the middle of a shoot while others watch, all to check whether the change made a visual difference. According to Taapsee, such requests, and the chain of communication surrounding them, can draw undue attention to a performer’s body rather than their craft.
The actor also reflected on what she described as visible differences in how female bodies are framed across industries. Taapsee Pannu noted that while South films often focus on the midriff, Hindi cinema has traditionally leaned towards highlighting cleavage. “I have tried to understand this pattern over the years,” she said, adding that such visual choices are often treated as routine rather than questioned. “But eventually, you realise the attention shifts from your performance to your body.”
Taapsee emphasised that while glamour has always been part of mainstream cinema, there is a fine line between styling and objectification. “There’s nothing wrong with looking good on screen,” she clarified. “But when the focus becomes very specific to certain body parts, it can distract from the character you’re playing.” Her comments have since triggered wider discussions about how actresses are presented in commercial films and whether industry norms need re-evaluation. “At the end of the day, we are actors,” she said. “The audience should remember the performance, not just how a body part was framed.”
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