Shabaash Mithu: THIS facet of Mithali Raj’s personality surprised Taapsee Pannu the most!

In Shabaash Mithu, Taapsee Pannu will take on one of her most challenging roles yet, portraying the iconic Mithali Raj on screen. The actress recently opened up about one of the biggest things that surprised her about Mithali’s personality.

In conversation with ETimes, the actress revealed that she had been able to meet Mithali in person only once before filming began, finding the cricketer to be the complete opposite of herself. Taapsee spoke of how she had certain notions about Mithali before meeting her. Taapsee had imagined Mithali, as the former captain of the Indian cricket team, to be ‘strong, expressive and very commanding’. The actress also expected the sportswoman to have the kind of body language and personality that wouldn't fit the traditional notions of a ‘feminine’ person. But the myths Taapsee had were broken when she had actually met Mithali in person.

Taapsee said she was taken aback to see that Mithali didn't seem to be the ‘conventional’ kind of sportswoman with a ‘boisterous’ personality. Mithali was a Bharatnatyam dancer who later became a cricketer. The actress was surprised at the cricketer’s ‘grace and poise’ as well, saying the latter was much more elegant than Taapsee. “Mithali has this elegance about herself, a very womanly elegance. It was very unlike what you would imagine a sports woman to be”, said Taapsee.

The actress also said that Mithali’s personality was the complete opposite to her own. Taapse said that Mithali was an observational, laid back person, who never beat around the bush when she speaks, which was little.

For her preparation to play Mithali, Taapsee had been trained by Nooshin Al Khadeer, who is a close friend of Mithali.

In addition to Pannu, the Srijit Mukherji directorial also stars Mumtaz Sorcar, Vijay Raaz and Devadarshini in pivotal roles.

Shabaash Mithu will hit the big screens on July 15.