Taapsee Pannu was her usual candid self at her session titled ‘Fearless and Feisty: Telling Powerful Stories’. The actress who made her debut 15 years back with Telugu film Jhummandi Naadam, first appeared in a Hindi film in 2013. David Dhawan’s Chashme Baddoor. Over the years, Taapsee has carved her career with utmost care, choosing films that she “could be proud of”. While espionage drama Baby by Neeraj Pandey was a turning point for her, with films like Mulk, Saand Ki Aankh, Thappad and Pink, among others, Taapsee has etched herself out on the minds and memories of cinema lovers. “I still have a long way to go,” she smiled.
The actress looked back at her seven-minute role of undercover agent Shabana Khan in the super thriller Baby (2015) that later fleshed out in a title role in Naam Shabana in 2017. It made her feel confident that even a small window was enough to shine if the performance hit home.
Among Taapsee’s memorable outings was Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s National Award-winning Pink, where she played a harrowed Minal Arora. “It was firstly difficult to get into the skin of the character, live with it for a month, and then shed it. Usse pehle maine koi kirdaar itni kareeb se mehsus nahin kiya tha. It shook my core. It took me a few weeks to get out of that zone and feel everything was okay,” recollected Taapsee.
The actress, known for her versatility, said every film she had done was “important” to her. “I gave all my films years of my life which will perhaps never come back. Every film is important, and I can never choose,” she smiled.
She was, however, happy to have chosen a life partner in badminton champion Mathias Boe, from Denmark, a former Olympic medallist and world No. 1. They tied the knot in 2023, after a decade of meeting each other on a badminton court during a domestic league. “I found a man, not a boy, ek aisa insaan jiska maturity level kaafi high tha, jo mere jaise profession mein jo insaan hai, usko samajhne ke liye zaroorat hoti hai. Bahut suljha huya insaan hi mere saath reh sakta hai. Only a secure and self-made man could attract me. And that’s what happened. I waited for 10 years because I wanted to test the relationship in every possible way. He proposed to me after a year. So, I think history ki sab se lambi engagement thi, nau saal ki. My profession is such that there are many ups and downs. I didn’t want itne ups and downs in my personal life. Aur aisi testing hui hai ke meri personal life itni stable hai ki kaafi log use boring kahenge! I had known him for 10 years and I didn’t hide it from anyone, but no one was interested because neither is he a cricketer nor a businessman. It’s my personal life, and I didn’t think it was important for me to issue a press release (about her wedding),” laughed Taapsee.
She felt their jobs were similar as well as different. “My job has the option of multiple takes. His doesn’t. The similar bit is that we both travel a lot. We both love sports and we are both very competitive. The one aspect of his profession that I am envious of is the results are in hand. You work hard and there is validated data. The same is not applicable in our industry. It’s very subjective. One more advantage of being a sportsman is that you don’t have to be a people-pleaser. I have to focus on image maintenance too,” said Taapsee who has Gandhari, an action thriller, “a mother’s revenge story”, coming up soon on Netflix.
Taapsee, however, admitted that she could never be “people-pleaser”. “I am happy with my unique personality,” she smiled.
A personality with an enviable trait of calling a spade a spade. Be it being vocal about less budget allotted for women-centric films or why talent should be the gold standard for work and not the number of followers on social media, and why a heroine should be acknowledged on her own merit and not because of who her hero was.
When Kangana Ranaut’s sister’s Rangoli Chandel’s unsavoury comments (‘sasti copy’) about her came up in the conversation, Taapsee played it with a straight bat. “Sasti shayad mein hoon kyunki utna paisa mujhe nahin dete hai log shayad. Or copy… agar itni achche actress ki copy maan rahe hai, toh I am okay being a copy. Of course, I think (Kangana Ranaut) is a very good actress. See, the kind of words you use, shows your upbringing. Jis tarikhe ki baate main karungi, woh meri personality bataigi. Mein aisi baatein nahin kar sakti kisi bhi aur ke bare mein, especially about a girl jisne aapni journey khud chuni, khud kari,” she said.
Taapsee’s raw candour borders on a certain fearlessness that stems from earnestness and conviction. There were strong emotions when she said, “Keep a back-up option ready. I am an engineer. There is one life. Keep your ego aside. Otherwise, you will be disappointed. And it’s not about the industry. I am not a victim of the industry. People still wait for reviews for women-centric films, and hero-driven films get advance bookings. For us outsiders, we are dependent on our junta”. Or, “Our nature of work entails that we are soft targets. Whatever stand you take, there will be repercussions. We are as normal as you people are. All we want to leave behind is some positive influence through our work. We are not God and even we commit mistakes, but judge us on our intentions”.
Actress Bhumi Pednekar is all the women she has played in her decade-long career so far. Those with “agency”. Those who are you. Or, me. At ABP Network Ideas of India Summit 2025, in association with t2, in Mumbai, the Bhakshak actress looked back at her journey in a session titled ‘Diving into the Deep: A Decade in the Spotlight’. Excerpts...
I have to createmy own conversations...
I think the way I look at these characters (that she has played) is that they are women in their entirety. You know, they represent different shades of what a modern-day Indian girl is. I think one thing that’s common amongst all my characters, and this is something that I’ll never, ever stop doing, is that all my characters have agency. For me, that is extremely important. Growing up, I saw beautiful female actors on stage, and they hugely inspired me.
I was a very big Karisma Kapoor fan and a very big Rani Mukerji fan, Vidya Balan fan. But I think something that I really missed growing up was seeing women that did not fit into the bracket of what your conventional beauty standards are. So, I thought growing up, that mein toh kabhi actor ban hi nahin paungi because mein in ladkiyon jaisi toh dikhti nahin hoon.
I’m very, very proud, and I’m genuinely so fortunate that my first film was Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015) that helped me, and hopefully, many younger girls who watched that film, understand that usually women are defined by what the society expects them to be, but you have to start making your own rules. I have to create my own room, I have to create my own conversation… today, I have a platform, and I am empowered enough to create rooms and create conversations that are safe.
I always see characters that I feel can be inspiring. I always see characters that have something more to do than just entertainment. I always seek stories that truly would leave behind an impact. And honestly, I’m a very purpose-driven person. I think my purpose is to bring about positive change with my art form.
I would not want any other debut, but Dum Laga Ke Haisha….
Honestly, when I look back to how I was in Dum Laga Ke Haisha, I think I was extremely, extremely beautiful.
You have to trust me. When I went through that transformation, I gained about 40 kilos for the film, and I did not even realise it till I saw myself on screen because nothing in my ecosystem changed. Nobody treated me differently within my family and friends that made me feel like, oh, there’s something wrong with me. And I think it was that confidence with which I played that character….
When I was growing up, I didn’t ever imagine that I’m going to debut with a film like Dum Laga Ke Haisha. I wanted to do all the quintessential parts, right? Your first film is not something you choose. It chooses you. I don’t come from a film family. And I really upset my parents deeply because I decided to go into the world of films. They didn’t know how this world operates, right? They heard things, and they were like, how can we send our daughter into the big, bad world of cinema? But I was always a rebel, because I was my father’s child….
The beauty of it is that I was casting for that film, because I was a casting director for four years in a beautiful studio called Yash Raj Films…. When the script came along, Aditya Chopra, whom I’m deeply indebted to, told my friend and the head casting director of Yash Raj Films, Shanoo Sharma, ‘You know, I’ve heard Bhumi conduct auditions, why don’t you audition her?’ The process went on for many, many months because my director inherently thought that I’m a Bombay girl, but I worked very hard, and I’m glad that I managed to convince him. The rest is history.
Dum Laga Ke Haisha changed my life. I don’t think I would have it any other way. If I had to go through that experience all over again and play that beautiful, overweight girl, I would do it. I would not want any other debut, but Dum Laga Ke Haisha.
There’s a gender pay gap everywhere…
This is a global situation. When it comes to our industry. I have spoken about it in the past because I do feel that when I was in a position when I was offered literally 5 per cent of what my male counterpart got, and I’m completely aware of the fact that I made this comparison because him and I had the same amount of hits. We both were leading the films, we had the same amount of success and we also started at similar times. And I did that film. I did that film because I didn’t have a choice. I was like, okay, I’m going to do this film. I’m going to create an impact, and hopefully, I will create an ecosystem where I can empower myself and thereby empower other women that work with me.
I know the comment that I made was the right thing to do. I really feel that if you have a platform, you have to use it. And that’s exactly what I did. And did it make a difference? Of course, it made a difference. Last year, I was a part of a project where I was the highest paid actor, and I’m very proud of it… because that’s what I deserved… it needs to be apples for apples.
Casting couch...
I was a casting director for many, many years before I became an actor, but I was casting in an institution that was very clean, very organised, and in fact, my casting director, then Abhimanyu Ray, would never audition a girl without me being present in the room. Now that’s the ecosystem that I grew up in because I was 17 when I started in Yash Raj, as casting director. Now, I firsthand, have not experienced anything. But having said that, does it not exist? Of course it exists, because we’ve had many women who have had the courage to come out and speak about it. I would never negate a girl’s experience….
And just as a woman today in India, I’m scared. And this is, again, just not about my fraternity. I’m scared when my younger cousin, who lives with me in Bombay, goes out to college, and she’s outside and she does not come home till 11 o’clock at night, I get nervous. You know, there is a deep conditioning of power in our country, right? There is a problem when your front-page news is only about the violence done on women. And this is not a one off thing any more. This is a regular occurrence. We see that everywhere around us, and then you need to go see the comments that come on those posts, the kind of comments will shock you. Every time I put out a picture where I might not be dressed the way you might want me to be dressed, the comments are rather... they can break you.
Being in the public eye...
I think I signed up for it. I can’t complain. There are a lot of perks of being an actor, and absolutely, there are some things that might not be the nicest, but this what I signed up for when I decided I wanted to be an actor. I wanted it all. I wanted to be on the stage, do interviews. I wanted a red carpet. I wanted awards. I wanted loads of money. I think often women are very conscious about saying that I want to get rich or that I have lots of ambition and want to earn lots of money because we are told you can’t have those things. And I love making money. It is one of my biggest drives, and I’m not going to be ashamed of it.
Climate Warrior…
I started something called Climate Warrior in 2018. It’s my advocacy platform. I truly feel the adverse effects of climate change, everything that we are facing right now is the largest looming threat that humanity has and will ever face. We don’t realise that when we speak about our AQI (air quality index) going high, lack of nutrition in our soil, in our food, water pollution, the mass destruction of biodiversity, forest fires, all of this is climate change, and we are living it. And time and again, I tell people if you truly love your family, if you truly want to protect them, you have to understand that this is the threat that you have to protect them from.
Politics is not taboo...
I think the reason we are this opinionated is because of the family that I’m born in. I never got to see my father in that role (Satish Pednekar was the Maharashtra home and labour minister who passed away in 2011), because he quit political practice a little before I was born. But I think the desire in us to give back, I think all of it comes from him. I think it’s (politics) in my blood, but I feel to bring about change, the platform that I have at the moment is quite strong, and I’m going to use my art form to the best of my ability to do the same work. Politics is not taboo. Why should it be? In fact, we need younger leaders who can become great role models. How else are we going to see change?
Ten years from now…
I constantly want to be learning. Knowledge is power. You know, people often ask me, well, what’s the end goal? I don’t know what the end goal is…. I hope the next 10 years are as beautiful and as gratifying like what the past 10 years have been.
I was a young girl who dreamed of being where I am, and I got that opportunity. The fact that I can wake up every day and still do something that I love so much, I’m just full of gratitude. You know, I remember there was a time in my life after I lost my father, we did not know how we would survive as a family. It’s tough, but that experience taught me that I’m a very resilient person. I became the primary caregiver. I’m the primary caretaker of my family. I have a beautiful family with my mother and my sister, and we as a unit are very strong, and I know that in the next 10 years, the legacy that we want to continue, the legacy that my father left behind, my sister and I are going to make it even larger and bigger.
Veteran actor and director Amol Palekar looked back at his stellar career, enriched with as much critical acclaim as popularity in the session titled ‘Fifty Years On: Art, Activism and Acting’.
The ‘Everyman’ of Hindi cinema, who went to Sir JJ School of Art, made his debut in Hindi films with Basu Chatterjee’s Rajnigandha in 1974. Chhoti Si Baat (1975) and Chitchor (1976) followed, and Palekar became the “boy next door”. There was a quality of relatability, felt Palekar. “It was the era of the Angry Young Man... Amitabh Bachchan. Rajesh Khanna ka daur khatam nahin huya tha... the romantic hero. Then Dharmendraji, the He-Man was also around. Then there was Jeetendraji…. Inki comparison mein toh kahin khara hi nahi ho sakta tha. Shayad inme se kuch bhi main nahin tha, isi liye logon ko pasand aya. People would tell me that after watching you, we feel we have met you or even I have encountered this in my life or we just might come across you at a bus stop. My first three films were silver jubilee hits,” he smiled.
Trained in the language of theatre by the legendary Satyadev Dubey, Palekar picked up enunciation from radio guru Ameen Sayani too. “Without using mics or shouting or screaming, how can you project your voice so that even the person sitting in the last row can hear you?” recollected Palekar.
In the half-an-hour session, Palekar also reminisced his working relationship with filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who passed away in December. “Shyam and my career started together... when Basuda was making Rajnigandha, Shyam was making Ankur (1974). I knew Shyam from much before as I knew Basuda. Yeh jo Film Society Movement chalaya karte the, yeh log bahut aggressive the. The way he used to shoot his films and take the subject into finer details, my becoming a director, though not directly, I cannot deny Shyam’s contribution,” said Palekar. Benegal went on to make the seminal Bhumika (1977), where Palekar played a villain, a stark departure from his other portrayals at that time. “He said he was sure that I would play the hero very well, but usse shayad behtar play karoge Keshav Dalvi, the villain. I said if you are giving me a choice, I will only be the villain and not the hero. That’s how Bhumika happened,” he remembered.
From Benegal to the great Hrishikesh Mukherjee, with whom Palekar had had many fruitful collaborations like Naram Garam, Rang Birangi and Jhoothi. The journey started with Gol Maal in 1979. “When Hrishikesh Mukherjee called me for Gol Maal, I had decided I wouldn’t be doing this film because I had heard that he never gave the full script. He had worked with Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha but none of them were mainstream, masala films. He was a brilliant storyteller and a lovely human being. His mother fed me homemade coconut nadu. Gol Maal’s narration was one of the most fascinating narrations I had heard till then. That’s how Gol Maal happened, and our wonderful journey and relationship evolved,” said Palekar.
The thespian who has made poignant films like Dhoosar, Daayra and Thang, among others, said the responsibility of reaching the masses with a message lay with the artiste. “When we talk of artistes, they are very much a part of the society and therefore as much responsible to the society. In fact, it is a little bit more because people listen to them and love them. There was a trend in between that films are meant for entertainment and nothing more. I don’t agree with that. And, even if you agree, that cannot be mindless entertainment. I have used my films as a message. I made Dhoosar, which was on Alzheimer’s. This was around 10 year’s back, and the international society of Alzheimer’s asked for its non-commercial rights. They wanted to show it around the world. I made Daayra (1996) and Thang (2006, titled Quest in English; on same-sex relationship). This was around the time of Brokeback Mountain (2005). Daayra never released in India but won a Grand Prix award (at Festival de Valenciennes, France),” he said.
Palekar, who was way ahead of his times, however, felt that neither can AI replace the human touch nor can technology rob art of its spirit. “Zakir Hussain’s tabla’s sound can be replicated easily, but how he played cannot be replicated. Woh sirf Zakir hi kar sakta hai. How Guru Dutt framed his shots, they grow on you. People felt theatre would die after cinema or after television’s onset, cinema will. Now there is OTT and YouTube, but the main art form, that can never die,” he signed off.