Taapsee Pannu on her Haseen Dillruba character: Rani’s behaviour is a big no for me

Taapsee Pannu has been making buzz ever since her film Haseen Dillruba released on Netflix. In an interview with Spotboye, the actress opened up about her character Rani from her latest thriller.

She revealed that the role was offered to her initially too. The actress had no second thoughts since she had worked in writer Kanika Dhillon’s Manmarziyan previously. Taapsee went on to call her latest release ‘Mamarziyan with infidelity and murder’. Despite being eager to hear the story of Haseen Dillruba, Taapsee was actually struggling with the movie owing to her prior commitments.

When prompted about what happened after that, the actor replied that the offer had already gone to someone else till the time she returned and so, she moved on to other projects. Subsequently, she was called to Dhillon’s office and got to know the whole story about Haseen Dilllruba. She was yet again offered the role as it had gone around to several other candidates.

“I am thankful to the actresses who said no playing Rani Kashyap”, the actor told the publication. 

When asked if she was shocked by how far Rani went in pursuit of personal gratification, the actor replied saying that there is an interesting contrast in her character. She continued that even though Rani looks like a conventional heroine who “loves to dress up in traditional chiffon sarees and salwar kameez every day in her sasural”, she is conscious about her looks and grooming as she has worked in a salon. The actress stressed that Rani’s behaviour is anything but typical.

Taapsee further explained how she had started to maintain her distance from seemingly stereotypical characters. “The characters I choose to play are far removed from the person that I am.” Calling it the ‘fun of being an actor’, she added, “You can live many lives in one lifetime, right?”

When the interviewer emphasised on the fact that Rani's behaviour shocked the actor, the actress replied in the affirmative, saying that she is not like Rani. “You will rarely find me in the grey zone. Rani’s behaviour is a big no for me. Infidelity is definitely not in my range of acceptable behaviour. I would never accept or condone it in my own life”, the actor stated.

As an actor, Taapsee was not that shocked and did not find it difficult to accept the character since such types of cases happen in real life too. The actress was, however, shocked at Rani's reaction to her own infidelity. She said, “It’s such a shameful thing. One would normally sweep it under the carpet, but Rani is such an honest person. When she develops an extra-marital relationship, she is determined to tell her husband about it.”

When asked how many women would do this sort of thing, the actor replied that Rani feels the need to be true to her feelings and be vocal of her needs and desires. She shared that when Rani is disappointed in her marriage she has an extra-marital affair, which wasn’t planned but is serious enough to make her leave her husband.

When asked if Rani is the “nastiest” heroine the actor has played on screen, Taapsee replied that her character Naina in Badla was even nastier. “Just because she was suave, she didn’t come across as in-your-face wicked”, the actor expressed.

Taapsee also revealed that Haseen Dillruba was headed for the big screen since the visuals of the film were designed in a way to be enjoyed in theatres. She said, “It has in fact all the ingredients to travel to beyond the so-called A centres… We were very confident that the content will travel”. Furthermore, she said that they waited for as long as possible but the film would have ‘lost its validity’ if they waited any longer.

The actor also spoke about consuming a lot of content on OTT platforms and said that she watches all the films that are released on OTT.

Check our review of the film here .