There is something endearing about Taapsee Pannu. It's a Sunday afternoon, and she opens the door, offers a slice of a chocolate cake that she has baked, switches the fan on and gets you a glass of water.

Though fairly new to Bollywood, the 27-year-old actor is not a newbie when it comes to cinema, having acted in 15 films in the South, most of them in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Two of her films were Bollywood ventures, and she took a bow in Hindi cinema with literally a smashing entry. Her martial art moves in Neeraj Pandey's Baby stumped the audience.

Baby hero Akshay Kumar introduced her to a Krav Maga specialist who trained her in the Israeli martial art form. "I learnt 10 times more than what I actually shot. I learnt some crazy kicks and punches - some of them flipping kicks that are very fancy to look at," she says, sitting in her Andheri, Mumbai, home.

She recalls that the makers of her Hindi debut film, David Dhawan's remake of Chashme Baddoor where she played a bubbly girl wooed by three men, told her about a possible role in another film they were producing.

"It was directed by Neeraj Pandey Sir. But I could not get an audience with him as he was going by my coy-girl image in Chashme Baddoor . I chased him and pushed for that one meeting. After I met him and convinced him, I bagged the role without an audition," she says.

Auditions and Pannu don't go well: when she goes for a screen test, she ends up not getting the role. "I won't say it is bad luck because the movies that I auditioned for and was rejected all turned out to be duds. So I would say it is good luck for me," she laughs.

On the anvil now are two Bollywood projects, while Tigmanshu Dhulia has produced a short film with her. Pannu has now shifted base to Mumbai, though she is still doing two films in the South, where she won recognition with the 2011 film Aadukalam .

"After three years in the South, I realised I had to slow down my pace. One year I had seven releases in Tamil and Telugu. I was flying from one city to another in the morning and evenings to shoot for two films," she says. "I realised that movies didn't have to be the be all and end all of my life."

She thought of exploring new avenues, but knew it had to be a field which wouldn't demand all her time. "I could not start anything that would take up 100 per cent of my attention as that would be unfair to my current profession, which is obviously my top priority."

That's when she thought of launching with her sister a wedding planner company called Wedding Factory. "This was the right time - a lot of people know me and I could get customers easily. Our forte lies in decoration."

It was while working on a birthday party for her friend, actress Lakshmi Rai, that she realised she had a knack for design. "We had designed an Alice in Wonderland theme: invitations were given out as a key to a secret garden. The birthday girl's gown was like the one worn by Alice," she says, adding that many of her future clients came from there.

She stresses that it is not uncommon for actresses to be cautious about the future. "Women no longer look at marriage as a safety net. They earn their own money and in my family, where both of us are girls, we were taught the value of money very early in life. My mother would jostle with the idea of buying stuff from a shop on the other side of the road so that she could save a few rupees."

Pannu stresses that she doesn't have "a very over the top fancy" lifestyle. "My father can't tolerate the fact that I can buy a pair of shoes worth Rs. 5,000. My parents and upbringing have made me practical. This will help me climb down the ladder when the time comes."

Not many know that Pannu is an IT engineer who designed an iPhone app. She studied software engineering in Delhi, and the trained Kathak dancer also took part in dance and public-speaking contests at college festivals.

But, she adds, she loved academics, though her teachers worried about her busy cultural life. In her fourth year, the head of the department (HOD) threw up a challenge. She and two others had to present a project, "and he thought we would flunk."

The three ended up learning a new computer language and designed an app. "The HOD was flummoxed and didn't know what hit him," she recalls.

Later, while shooting with the southern star Dhanush for Aadukalam in Madurai, she urged him to click the app button. "He was so shocked. The perception that I was just another pretty looking north Indian girl changed after Dhanush spoke to the media about this."

Pannu is also busy on the lecture circuit. Speaking to aspiring MBAs, she highlights the need to think ahead - but to also let nature takes it course.

She stresses that she didn't plan to join the film industry. She was a busy model when Telugu director-producer Puri Jaganath noticed her and gave her a role in a Telugu film.

"But I don't take things for granted. My plan A worked because I had a plan B. My plan A was not in my hands. Nature or destiny sometimes chooses its own course. But my plan B was always in my hands, that is the confidence that allowed me to follow up plan A." We move on to other areas. The tabloids talk about an impending wedding with a Dane. "My boyfriend comes from a place where marriage is definitely not a must," she says, denying that marriage is in the pipeline.

Her focus, she adds, is on her Bollywood career. "I am not ready for marriage yet. Later, whenever marriage does happen, I will be the happiest. I will uproot myself and start life afresh." Plan A, or B - it will all work out, Pannu is sure of that.