“All Sardars are not boisterous….The girl in Runningshaadi is closest to me” – Taapsee Pannu

By Subhash K. Jha -

February 13, 2017 - 10:54 AM IST

Tapsee Pannu is very excited about the release of Runningshaadi.com. “I am very proud of Runningshaadi .com. Dada (Shoojit Sircar who has produced the film) gave me Pink after seeing what I could do in Runningshaadi.com. I can tell you this without hesitation. My character in this film Nimmi is the closest to the person that I am in real life.”

“All Sardars are not boisterous….The girl in Runningshaadi is closest to me” – Taapsee Pannu

Like how????!!!

Tapsee explains, “Like Nimmi I am a Punjabi, a Sardarni. But I am a little wary of the way Punjabi men and women are portrayed in our films. They are always loud, always aggressive, forever singing dancing screaming. Yes all this is part of the average Punjabi’s DNA. But all Sardars are not boisterous all the time. A Punjabi woman also has a softer gentler side. This, I’ve shown in Runningshaadi.com”

Her biggest temptation to do Runningshaadi.com was the opportunity to break away from stereotypes. “The Punjabi girl I play is different from what we see. The Bihari guy Amit Sadh plays is not the stereotypical Bihari speaking in the singsong voice. In fact when Amit was researching for his character he met a Bihari gentleman who told him, ‘Bihari is not a language. It’s an attitude’. That one sentence became the basis of Amit’s character. Like I said this girl in Runnindshaadi is the closest to the kind of person I am while the girl in Pink was very different from who I am.”

Tapsee had a tough time keeping the director and her co-star separated on the sets of Runningshaadi.com? “There were two Amits on the sets. Amit Sadh and my director Amit Roy. We didn’t know how to tell them apart. This is Amit Roy’s debut film. But it doesn’t look like a first film. He has not just directed the film he’s also done the screenplay and cinematography. So young and so much responsibility!”

Tapsee started her career in Hindi cinema with a comedy Chashme Buddoor. Now she’s back at the ‘grin’ after the grim Pink. Comparing the two comedies Tapsee says. “In Chashme Buddoor David Sir (David Dhawan) had already edited the film in his mind. He was very clear about what he wanted. But with Amit Roy there was a lot of give and take. Of course David Sir also allowed us to improvise a huge amount. But with his experience I had to think a million times before making a suggestion. With Amit I was like a comrade on the sets.”

The fact that she played a character very close to her heart helped Tapsee a lot in Runningshaadi.com. I took the liberty of asking for changes in scenes and constantly questioning him. Amit Roy was very flexible. He was worried about my accent. But I got it right. I had such a ball shooting with the two Amits in Runningshaadi.com. We’d shoot for 12-13 hours at a stretch. But I never felt the weight of the long hours. That’s the spirit I want to shoot in.”

Tapsee is confident of scoring a post-Pink success in Runningshaadi.com. “Shoojit Sir (producer Shoojit Sircar) is known to deliver very strong content. So I knew from the start that whatever we do would be worth the while. Then we have Vikram Malhotra to handle the marketing. He is a man who knows his job.”