Over the years, Taapsee Pannu has repeatedly returned to the courtroom in films such as Pink, Badla, and now Anubhav Sinha’s Assi, playing characters who navigate the fraught terrain between justice and power. “The court is my lucky charm, and something good always comes out of it,” she says. “I never studied law, and I don’t think I had the aptitude to become a lawyer in real life. But I vicariously live it through my characters on screen.”
In Assi, she plays Raavi, an advocate fighting for a victim of sexual assault. Her efforts are hamstrung by a venal judiciary and a society that remains largely indifferent to the plight of survivors. The film marks her third collaboration with Sinha after Mulk and Thappad.
Pannu is aware of the shrinking space for women-led stories and the challenges that come with it. “My films aren’t the ones that come with mega budgets,” she says. “I have never shied away from hard work or challenges. But if people stop watching meaningful films, I too will end up doing what the rest are doing.” For Pannu, playing Raavi was a challenge because in most of her films, she has played the victim, not the one seeking justice. “The challenge was to make the audience believe in me and my cause through my dialogues and performance, even if it may not have happened to me.”
Pannu is aware of the shrinking space for women-led stories and the challenges that come with it, but she is not ready to give up
Sinha admits he often writes characters with Pannu in mind, drawn to the gravitas and relatability she brings. “She speaks even in her silences,” he says. Pannu, however, sees it differently. “It’s not me but the subjects that seek me,” she says. “In our industry, it takes effort to think out of the box, and not everyone wants to make that effort. When a film has an agenda or a discourse that needs to be addressed, people think I would be the right fit.”
Such clarity often means turning work down. “I end up rejecting a lot because I know I can sleepwalk through those films,” she says. “It’s not every day that I come across a director who casts me in a a film that’s not obvious.”
Having made her debut in a Chashme Baddoor remake in 2013, Pannu found wider recognition with Baby and Pink. No two characters she plays are alike. “Amrita in Thappad cannot be in the same room as Rani of Haseen Dilruba. To have a projects that constantly give me a different template, you need courage and the willingness to take risks, which is still lacking in our industry.”
Pannu is conscious of protecting her personal space. “I cannot grow as an artist if I am not vulnerable,” she says. Growing up in Delhi, she says, there was always a need to be careful. The film industry added another layer, where every decision feels measured. Social media, she felt, only made this worse. “When I felt social media was affecting my vulnerability, I stepped away.” Now dividing her time between India and Denmark, Pannu is married to former Danish badminton champion Mathias Boe. “It’s in my hands how much of my life I want to make public,” she says. “If you see me every day on social media, why would you make the effort to watch me on screen?”
She will next be seen in Netflix’s Gandhari, an action thriller that marks another shift in her choices. The pattern, if there is one, lies in her refusal to stay within a fixed mould.