Actor Taapsee Pannu has played real-life athletes in the past in Sandh Ki Aankh and Rashmi Rocket, is back again on the field, this time to play the Indian women’s cricket team’s first captain Mithali Raj. Is Taapsee excited about serenading the sporting spirit one more time? She tells Firstpost.
In Shabaash Mithu you play yet another real life character.How different was this experience as compared with other biopics?
See , I feel biopics are normally about an individual’s life-journey. It is usually an underdog story or a rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches story. But here, Mithali didn’t really go through any real-life struggle.
So no drama?
(laughs) No drama as such. It wasn’t as though she had to struggle to get to her goal. Her parents didn’t oppose her aspirations . She had no financial hardships, and all of that.This is more about people’s perception of the sport.
You mean, why is cricket considered a men’s game in this day and age when Ranveer Singh proudly declares he wears his mother’s ear rings?
Mithali’s journey was a struggle to give women’s cricket the place it rightfully deserves in India. I guess that makes this biopic very different from other biopics. This is actually her team’s journey as seen through Mithali’s eyes. Mithali has seen women’s cricket come a long way, from anonymity to the mainstream. Since she had had a long career of 23 years as a cricketer, she is just the right person to tell the story of women’s cricket in India.
Did you have to learn to play cricket from scratch?
Yes. I learnt to play cricket from scratch.I didn’t even how to hold a bat. I had to literally start from Ground zero , from the basics.It was tough to portray Mithali because she is a very different personality from me.She is far more subdued and quiet.Hence it was challenging playing Mithali not just on the field but also off the field. I had to learn not only to play cricket but also to play Mithali.
How well did you get to know Mithali Raj during the making of the film?
I did a lot of research on her. I read up her interviews to know how she thought, what she likes, what hurts and bothers her, what makes her happy….Plus, we had a close associate of Mithali, Nooshin with me who is a very dear friend of Mithali. Nooshin not only coached me but also took me through the changes in Mithali’s life and sport. The third-person perspective really helped to understand Mithali.
Did you get to interact with Mithali during the shooting?
Not much . She was actively playing matches during that time. So she was either in a bio-bubble before a tournament ,or prepping up in a camp for the World Cup. Because of all this, she was not all that accessible to me to know her one-on-one. But how much time is needed to know a person well? Of course if I know a person for years it would be easier to portray her on screen.
Why do you think cricket by and large remains a men’s sport?
I guess because it has more visibility more spectators more takers. If you ask me, it’s a vicious circle.As Mithali says,we should never compare women’s cricket with men’s.It’s not as if women cricketers can’t hit sixers. But for some reason, it is believed that women’s cricket is not exciting enough. And that’s really a myth.I have followed women’s cricket during the last couple of years. They are high-scoring matches. For years and years men’s cricket has got all the attention, hence more takers and sponsors. The men players also get attention and opportunities whereas women’s cricket is almost a child of a lesser God.As a cricket-loving nation, we have a responsibility to nurture women’s cricket. Hopefully, our film will change some of that prejudice.
Once again you are shouldering the entire film.Hasn’t your shoulder begun to hurt by now?
I was wondering why I was getting so much shoulder-pain lately. No seriously, these are the kind of films I get. It’s not as if I get offers that require me to be in the shadows.Fortunately or unfortunately those roles don’t come to me. This is the path I’ve chosen for my career. Both the success and failure are mine. Yeah ,it is quite a stress to shoulder films. But then it’s a price you pay for taking the lead. There’s a flip side to every situation, no matter how ideal.
Films are flopping left right and centre.Does that worry you?
The boxoffice has always been a gamble.Films have been flopping since time-imemmorial. Even decades back when the VHS came people said movie theatres are doomed.Then Blue Ray, then satellite channels…. Now the threat is the OTT. The ratio of hits and flops has always been the same. People are scrutinizing the numbers more now. As far as revenue-recovery goes, I say it’s not the films it’s the budgets that fail.
What are your forthcoming projects? Are you considering any webseries?
As of now, no webseries for me.It’s not as if I am against it. But I don’t want to do a feature film stretched into a webseries. If and when I do a webseries , it will have to be a proper one.After Shabaash Mithu I have Dobaara on August 19 then Blurr and WohLadki Hai Kahan. Then next year I’ve Raju Hirani’s Dunki. There are a couple of other projects in the pipeline.