“As An Actor, I Just Cannot Work In Isolation”- Tabu

Jyothi Venkatesh

Right at the outset, when she saunters in for this group print interview at the Hotel Sun N Sand, actress par excellence Tabu reiterates that as an actress, she just cannot be part of any film that comes her way. “I have to select the best out of what comes to me by way of offers”.

When asked about her role in Akiv Ali’s De De Pyaar De, Tabu says that the film is about complications in any relationship. “In De De Pyaar De, you will be able to see characters which you do not get to see in general in films which are being made today. I’d say that director Akiv Ali I superb because he has comic elements in himself. If the atmosphere on the sets is easy going, it is always good for the creative filmmaker. All of us had great fun and were in our elements when the film was being shot in Maali as well as London”

In De De Pyaar De, Tabu plays the role of a strong willed independent woman who happens to be a divorcee called Manju, who single handedly looks after her two kids and also runs a resort in Kulu Manali, after she is separated from her husband who has fallen for a 25 year old young girl, who is his daughter’s age. “Ajay and I have never ever done a role like this. Though in Drishyam both of us were opposite each other dynamically, in this we project a kind of relationship which we have never projects before.”

Tabu is of the opinion that the film De De Pyaar De is relevant to filmgoers in all the age groups whether it is the 40 year old, 20 year olds, people in their teens or for that matter people who are in the 60’s as it has a point which is very relevant to each and every age group.

Tabu is delighted that Andhadhun of which she was also a major part has been accepted in a big way in China. “I came to know that Andhadhun had been released in China to a thundering response only two weeks back. I thought that they would take me to China for the premiere because I have never been to China till date. I’d love to go to China and be a part of the screening there with the local people. I frankly did not dream that a film would be able to cross the barriers of language and format and create a miracle at the box office.”

Talking about the way her career has progressed from the time she had made her debut with Hum Naujawan way back, Tabu quips, “I want to keep the quality of my work the same or better than what it is. I hope my work reflects the growth I have had as far as my career as an actress at whatever point of time. You need a film to give a different perspective of yours. After getting stamped with the image of a serious and intense actress, I wanted to be a part of a film like Golmaal. Then came a film like Andhadhun with an entirely different image for myself. Luckily for me, I have had a history of doing different films of different genre like Chandni Bar, Maachis, Saajan Chale Sasural, Andhadhun, Biwi No 1 etc. It has not at all been tough for me to get people to accept me in different films in different roles”

Tabu says with glee that she really loved playing a killer in Andhadhun. “I enjoyed playing that role since I could do with eased what I general I cannot do in real life, like fling a poor old lady from the balcony to her death, slap a poor little kid”.

Tabu asserts that she does not think of her character in any film in terms of screen time. “I only try to know whether I can rise above the script, whether I can do justice to the script and give to it my best to make it impactful. In the beginning, frankly I did not have any choice at all. We never sued to get even a bound script and we used to do a film only out of blind trust in the director.”

Talking about whether she would be ready to be part of any content on the OTT platform, Tabu is happy that there is so much content on the OTT platform especially since there is no censorship and a lot of good content. Today many new actors are getting work in the web series in all age groups. I feel that actors doing these kinds of roles should be given more importance and scope in Cinema too. There are different kinds of consumers for different kind of entertainment.’

I ask Tabu point blank whether the absence of censorship of any kind would inhibit her from doing a web series which calls for a lot of exposure and she shoots back, “I do not think anyone would dare to come to me with an offer to do an explicit scene in a web series in any case but I can say that I am game to do a web series if I am offered a good role.”

Maqbool, Cheeni Kum, Hyder, Drishyam and Golmaal are the five films which Tabu names as her best in her career as an actress. Tabu adds with a flourish that she also enjoyed a lot as an actress while being directed by the likes of Mira Nair, Shriram Raghavan and Vishal Bharadwaj in their films other than these five films. Tabu asserts that it is enough if an actress is true to both her character as well as the script when sets out to do a film.

Whenever a film of hers does not do well, Tabu says she is very disappointed. “I was disappointed when Fitoor tanked at the box office. You are definitely disappointed because you are not the only one involved with the film and everyone has given his or her sweat to it including the technicians and your co-actors.

Tabu, when told that Rani Mukerjee is all set to direct a film for Yashraj Films, says that she is delighted and hopes that Rani will call her to cast her in her film. “If only Rani wants me to be a part of her film as a director, she would definitely send me the script”, she says.

Tabu confesses that she was a big introvert in the beginning of her career when her elder sister Farha Khan used to be a big extrovert. “I never could bring myself to talk to people earlier and now I am sitting actually and giving a group. Today I feel like I am being court-martialed. Now I can easily associate with people and connect to people. I just cannot imagine a life without friends”.

Tabu reiterates that she wants to keep, on acting till the day she is dead. “I just cannot understand why some people feel that an actress should quit her career the day she decides to get married. What has marriage got to do with one’s career? The day I am not offered a film, I will readily quit acting in films, not otherwise”.

 Tabu who says that after De De Pyaar De is released, she has up in her sleeves a Telugu film which will be produced by Allu Arjun with Trivikrama Rao as the director, signs off by stating honestly that the day she starts thinking that she is complacent as far as her career as an actress is concerned, she would die, because as she puts it succinctly, “As an actress, I just cannot work in isolation.”

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