Mumbai, August 26, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Actress Taapsee Pannu has credited women-centric cinema for giving her the opportunity to build the career she has today, saying she may not have had a similar journey if filmmakers had not taken chances on female-led stories.
In an exclusive interview with IANS, Taapsee said the industry has made progress in producing women-led films, although the change has not been consistent.
“I wouldn’t have had a career like mine if such films hadn’t been made. Some people had the courage to make it and some people had the courage to watch it. So, that’s why actors like me are still working a little. Some years are good, some are not,” she said.
Taapsee added that actors and filmmakers working in this space cannot afford to give up if they want the industry to continue changing.
“But if you give up now, maybe it will never change. So, on that hope, me and my colleagues who try and keep attempting it because we have no other option,” she said.
The actress also rejected the notion that she deliberately turned down conventional Bollywood heroine roles, saying such opportunities have largely not come her way.
“There are many actresses like me, I feel, who don’t get the role of conventional heroines. So, I am not going to be on that higher pedestal and say, ‘I refused those films’. No, I didn’t get it. I have always got challenging movies and I chose the one that I liked,” she said.
Taapsee pointed out that the success or failure of individual female-led films affects the wider ecosystem. A successful project, she said, can encourage investors to back more such stories, while a failure can create concerns about the viability of the genre.
Over the years, Taapsee has appeared in several women-led and unconventional films, including Pink, Naam Shabana, Mulk, Thappad, Rashmi Rocket, Haseen Dillruba and Dobaaraa.
She is now set to headline Gandhari, an action-thriller directed by Devashish Makhija and written and produced by Kanika Dhillon. The film stars Taapsee as Bani, a mother who embarks on a relentless search for her abducted daughter. Gandhari premieres on Netflix on September 3.
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