Actor Taapsee Pannu, who has carved a niche for herself across Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, and Malayalam cinema, recently got candid about the uncomfortable and often awkward realities female actors face while working in the south.
Taapsee Pannu is back on the big screen with Assi.
The actor shared that there are times when directors in Tamil and Telugu films would ask heroines to wear padded bras to accentuate their appearance on screen, adding that such suggestions then shift attention to a specific body part.
Taapsee on weird requests
Taapsee spoke about the awkward and embarrassing demands female actors sometimes face in films in the south, when she joined Shubhankar Mishra’s podcast on YouTube.
During the conversation, she was asked about why Bhojpuri and South Indian cinema are so focused on the navel in song sequences. Responding to this, Taapsee admitted that she, too, has often tried to understand this trend. She observed that while many South films tend to emphasise the navel in their visual framing, Hindi cinema, on the other hand, leans more towards focusing on cleavage.
“South mein bhi bola jaata hai ke wear padded bra. And problem yeh ho jaati hai ke set pe ke director kisko bole yeh baat kyunki set pe ladkiyan hi ginti ki ek ya do hain. Ab woh AD (assistant director) ko bole phir AD styling team ko ya hair team ki didi ko bole, ir woh aake ladki ko bole (“In the South, they sometimes say, ‘wear a padded bra.’ The problem then becomes who the director should even convey this to on set, because there are usually only one or two women present. So the director tells the assistant director, the AD then passes it on to the styling team or a female member from the hair team, and eventually the message reaches the actress),” Taapsee said.
Taapsee continued, “Aur aap socho kitna embarrassing hoga ke set pe ek gaane ke shoot mein kissko beech mein uthke jana hai, aur sab wahin dekh rahe ke acha kya difference hua. Phir aata hai ke hume difference pata nahi chal raha, toh abhi wapis jaao… Yeh hota hai (Just imagine how embarrassing it would be on a set during a song shoot – someone has to get up and leave midway while everyone is watching, wondering what difference it made. Then they say they still can’t see any difference, so you’re asked to go back and change again… This is what happens).”
She noted that filmmakers often tend to highlight specific body parts on screen, believing it caters to audience fantasies and visual appeal.
Taapsee Pannu’s latest work
Taapsee is back on the big screen with Assi. The courtroom drama is directed by Anubhav Sinha. The film also stars Kani Kusruti in the lead role. The movie follows Parima (Kani), a married woman living in Delhi, who is abducted and sexually assaulted by a group of men. The film tracks the aftermath, focusing on the police investigation and the subsequent legal battle. Taapsee is seen in the role of a lawyer.
Also starring Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, Manoj Pahwa, Seema Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Revathy, Naseeruddin Shah, and Supriya Pathak, the film is produced by T-Series and Sinha’s own Benaras Mediaworks.