Taapsee Pannu is an outspoken woman who never fears having her opinions being shared regardless of what follows. Recently, Taapsee, along with Kanika Dhillon and Guneet Monga Kapoor made an appearance at a session held by WIF India and Kathha Pictures. The theme of the event surrounded the topic of empowering women driven Indian cinema and the rise of collaborations led primarily by females.

During her speech, the audience were taken aback with some of the things Taapsee shared about her experiences during a film shoot. She began by explaining how both men and women have contrasting treatments on set. She said, “We actresses are always called a few hours early, not just to the location, but even on the set. So, the actress always reaches first. Once the assistant sees that the heroine has arrived, that’s when the hero will be called. Of course, we never get the same hotel rooms or cars either, courtesy our gender.”

She then shifted gears towards a particular scene which was to be shot during the filming of her introduction in a movie. She added, “I shot an introduction sequence for a film and I really liked it. In fact, one of the reasons I said yes to the film was due to that entry scene. At that point is when I knew; Aise teen-char scene hone chahiye, bahut hai aapke liye as a heroine! (There should be at least three four scenes as such. It is more than enough for you as a heroine.)”

There was however a sudden change of heart and they changed the sequence. The hero felt that his presence was required in this elaborate scene. His demands were quickly met. Later, after learning about this, she went to the director and said, “This is not supposed to be like this, right? You could have at least told me that you changed it.” To this he replied, “I did not know that I had to tell you!” This was an instant realisation that hit her about the partiality in the business.

She also shared another incident. She said, “In one scene, there was a tight close-up of mine in which I tell the hero, ‘Go to hell’. But the director advised me to later change it to ‘Whatever’ or something around those lines.” Taapsee argued with the director to understand why the lines were changing even though no cuss words were being used. The director finally revealed to her that it was the hero who asked for her to not say ‘Go to hell’.

Persistent about what she felt and knew was right, she argued with the director and did not change the line during the shoot. After the movie released, when she checked the scene, she noticed that her line for that scene had been dubbed.

When asked is such an incident repeated anytime recently for her newer films, she simply smiled and said, “It was way back. Recently aisa mere saath karke toh dikhao!” (Try doing the same thing with me now!)

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