Taapsee Pannu


Taapsee Pannu is an Indian actress who works primarily in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil-language films. Her accolades include a Filmfare Award and she has appeared in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list since 2018.
Pannu made her acting debut with the 2010 Telugu film Jhummandi Naadam and then starred in the 2011 films Aadukalam, Vastadu Naa Raju and Mr. Perfect. In 2013, she appeared in the Tamil film Arrambam and made her Hindi film debut with the successful comedy Chashme Baddoor. She went on to star in several commercially successful Hindi films, including the courtroom drama Pink, the war drama The Ghazi Attack, the action comedy Judwaa 2, the mystery thriller Badla , the space drama Mission Mangal and bollywood's best psychological thriller Game Over. For portraying the septuagenarian sharpshooter Prakashi Tomar in the biopic Saand Ki Aankh, she won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress.

Career

Early life and modelling

Taapsee was born on 1 August 1987 in New Delhi. to Dilmohan Singh Pannu and Nirmaljeet. She is of Punjabi descent. She did her schooling at the Mata Jai Kaur Public School in Ashok Vihar, Delhi. After completing her graduation in Computer Science Engineering from the Guru Tegh Bahadur Institute of Technology in New Delhi, she worked as a software engineer. She became a full-time model after she auditioned and was selected for Channel V's talent show Get Gorgeous, which eventually led her to acting. Taapsee has appeared in numerous print and television commercials and won several titles during her modelling days, including "Pantaloons Femina Miss Fresh Face" and "Safi Femina Miss Beautiful Skin" at the 2008 Femina Miss India contest. As a model, she endorsed brands such as Reliance Trends, Red FM 93.5, UniStyle Image, Coca-Cola, Motorola, Pantaloon, PVR Cinemas, Standard Chartered Bank, Dabur, Airtel, Tata Docomo, World Gold Council, Havells and Vardhman. She has also been featured on the cover of magazines Just For Women and MaaStars. After a few years, she lost interest in modelling as she thought that she could never gain proper recognition through modelling, but only through films, and finally decided to act.

2010–2015: Debut and recognition

Taapsee made her cinematic debut in 2010 with K. Raghavendra Rao's romantic musical Jhummandi Naadam. She played the role of the daughter of a US–based millionaire who comes to India to research traditional Telugu music. Taapsee got three more offers in Telugu prior to the film's release. Her next film Aadukalam, marked her debut in Tamil cinema. She played the role of an Anglo-Indian girl falling in love with a rural man played by Dhanush. The film, set in the backdrop of Madurai, revolves around cockfights. It was critically acclaimed and proceeded to win six National Film Awards at the 58th National Film Awards ceremony. Speaking about her role, a reviewer from Sify said: "Debutant Taapsee is a promising find and she suits the character of an Anglo-Indian girl to the T." She returned to the Telugu film industry with Vastadu Naa Raju, opposite Vishnu Manchu. She made a foray into Malayalam cinema later that year, with Doubles, opposite Mammootty and Nadiya Moidu. Paresh C Palicha of Rediff commented: "Taapsee Pannu as Saira Banu, whose entry into the scene becomes the bone of contention between the siblings, has nothing noteworthy to do".
Taapsee played a short role in her next release Mr. Perfect. In it, she acted alongside Prabhas and Kajal Aggarwal and the film was a moderate success. She starred in a high budget film titled Veera, opposite Ravi Teja and Kajal Aggarwal, which received moderate reviews. She was next seen in her second Tamil film Vandhaan Vendraan, that fetched mixed reviews and did not fare well at the box office. Her next film was Krishna Vamsi's Mogudu where she acted as a traditional Telugu girl opposite Gopichand and garnered critical acclaim for her performance. She worked on the Tamil–Telugu bilingual Gundello Godari—titled Maranthen Mannithen in Tamil— apart from Daruvu and Shadow. She also made her Bollywood debut through Chashme Baddoor where she shares the screen with Siddharth, Rishi Kapoor, Divyendu Sharma and Ali Zafar. The film is a remake of the 1981 film with the same title. Taapsee was also approached to dub the voice of Hollywood actress Katee Sackhoff in the Tamil, Telugu and Hindi versions of the science fiction film Riddick, but declined the offer due to her prior commitments. In later 2013, she was seen in the big budget action thriller Arrambam co-starring Ajith Kumar and Arya. She was awarded Most Enthusiastic Performer–Female Award at the 2014 Edison Awards for her performance in the film.
After a year without releases, she starred with Akshay Kumar in Neeraj Pandey's film Baby, as undercover agent Shabana Khan. Later, she had two Tamil releases, the horror comedy Muni 3, opposite Raghava Lawrence and Aishwarya R. Dhanush's Vai Raja Vai, which featured her in a special appearance.

2016–present: Career in Bollywood

Taapsee appeared alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Kirti Kulhari in Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury's courtroom drama Pink. The feature, as well as her performance, generated positive reviews from critics. With a worldwide revenue of, Pink emerged as a commercial success and received critical acclaim, earning the National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues; Pannu's performance garnered her a nomination for the Zee Cine Award for Best Actress.
Taapsee's first release of 2017 was the romantic comedy Running Shaadi, followed by the naval war drama The Ghazi Attack, both of which were average grossers. She next reprised her role of Shabana Khan in Naam Shabana—a spin-off of Baby —with Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Madhurima Tuli, and Manoj Bajpayee. Commercially, the film fared well and collected a total of. In her final release of the year, Taapsee collaborated with David Dhawan in the action comedy Judwaa 2, a reboot of 1997 comedy Judwaa, about the story of twin brothers who are separated at their birth but reunite in their youth. She and Jacqueline Fernandez played the love interests of Dhawan's characters. The movie became a major commercial success with earnings of more than in India.
2018 was a critically and commercially unsuccessful year in Taapsee's career as her all four releases–Dil Juunglee, Soorma, Mulk and Manmarziyaan–underperformed at the box office. However, her portrayal of a lawyer in Anubhav Sinha's Mulk was critically praised, earning her a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress nomination. She began 2019 by playing a businesswoman in Sujoy Ghosh's mystery thriller Badla, which marked her second collaboration with Amitabh Bachchan. The film was successful at the box office grossing over worldwide. Her second release was the drama Game Over, a bilingual film in Tamil and Telugu. She next played a devoted wife who cares for her army husband as a nurse despite first fulfilling her dream of becoming a scientist in the Jagan Shakti-directed Mission Mangal, a space drama about the contribution of the scientists to India's 2013 Mars Orbiter Mission. The film received generally positive response; many critics opined that she gives a "more challenging" performance in her career. With a domestic collection of over, Mission Mangal proved Taapsee's biggest success and one of the highest-grossing Indian films. Her final 2019 film was Tushar Hiranandani's biographical film Saand Ki Aankh, co-starring Bhumi Pednekar, in which she played sharpshooter Prakashi Tomar. Though it was commercially unsuccessful at the box office, her performance was positively reviewed. She was nominated for her second consecutive Filmfare Critics Best Actress Award and won both the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress and the Screen Award for Best Actress.
Anubhav Sinha's female-oriented drama Thappad, about a woman filing divorce after her husband slaps her, marked Taapsee's first film release of 2020. Co-starring Pavail Gulati, it received positive response and was moderately successful. She will star in the murder mystery Haseen Dillruba opposite Vikrant Massey, the athletic drama Rashmi Rocket opposite Aparshakti Khurana and the sports biopic Shabaash Mithu as cricketer Mithali Raj. In addition, Taapsee will team with Tahir Raj Bhasin for the drama Looop Lapeta.

Personal life

When asked in January 2015 about her personal relationships, Taapsee said: "I have dated a South Indian. Also I have never dated a star and will never date one and that I can write and give you on a stamp paper. I am clear that there can be only one star in the relationship and that's me. I personally don't think it can work out between an actor and an actress." Taapsee believes in the philosophy of "If you got it, you flaunt it". Taapsee is said to be dating badminton player Mathias Boe.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleLanguageNotes
2010Jhummandi NaadamSravyaTelugu
2011AadukalamIrene ClaudeTamil
2011Vastadu Naa RajuPoojaTelugu
2011Mr. PerfectMaggieTelugu
2011VeeraAikiTelugu
2011Vandhaan VendraanAnjanaTamil
2011MoguduRaja RajeshwariTelugu
2011DoublesSaira BanuMalayalam
2012DaruvuSwethaTelugu
2013Gundello Godari
' 'Maranthen Mannithen' '
SaralaTelugu
Tamil
2013Chashme BaddoorSeemaHindi
2013ShadowMadhubalaTelugu
2013SahasamSreenidhiTelugu
2013ArrambamAnithaTamil
2014Kathai Thiraikathai Vasanam IyakkamHerselfTamilCameo appearance
2015BabyShabana KhanHindi
2015Kanchana 2NandhiniTamil
2015Vai Raja VaiShreyaTamilGuest appearance
2015DongaataHerselfTeluguSpecial appearance
2016PinkMeenal AroraHindi
2017Running ShaadiNimmiHindi
2017The Ghazi AttackAnanyaHindi
2017The Ghazi AttackAnanyaTelugu
2017Naam ShabanaShabana KhanHindi
2017Anando BrahmaUnnamed ghostTelugu
2017Judwaa 2Samaara DeshpandeHindi
2018Dil JuungleeKoroli NairHindi
2018SoormaHarpreetHindi
2018MulkAarti MalhotraHindi
2018NeevevaroVennelaTelugu
2018ManmarziyaanRumi BaggaHindi
2019BadlaNaina SethiHindi
2019Game OverSwapnaTamil
2019Game OverSwapnaTelugu
2019Mission MangalKritika AggarwalHindi
2019Saand Ki AankhPrakashi TomarHindi
2020ThappadAmritaHindi
2020Haseen Dillruba Rani KashyapHindiFilming
2021Jana Gana Mana TamilPost production

;Short films
YearTitleRoleLanguageNotes
2018Baarish aur ChowmeinNeeluHindiZEE5
2018NitishastraRoshniHindiLong Short Films

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryFilmResult
2011South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Female Debutant – TamilAadukalam
2012Vijay AwardFavourite HeroineAadukalam
2012Vijay AwardBest Debut ActressAadukalam
2012Filmfare Awards SouthBest Supporting Actress – TeluguMr. Perfect
2012Santosham Film AwardsBest Actress Mr. Perfect
2013BIG Star Entertainment AwardsMost Entertaining Actor Debut – FemaleChashme Baddoor
2013South African Film and Television AwardsDebut Actor of the Year – FemaleChashme Baddoor
2013Filmfare AwardsBest Female DebutChashme Baddoor
2013TSRTV9 National Film AwardsBest ActressMogudu
2014Edison AwardsMost Enthusiastic Performer-Female AwardArrambam
2014Filmfare Awards SouthBest Supporting Actress – TamilArrambam
2014South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Actress in a Supporting Role – TamilArrambam
2016Lux Golden Rose AwardsRising Star Of The YearPink
2017Hindustan Times India's Most Stylish 2017Breakthrough Performer Of The Year
2017Stardust AwardsBest ActorPink
2017Screen AwardsBest ActressPink
2017BIG Zee Entertainment AwardsMost Entertaining Actor in a Social Film – FemalePink
2017Jagran Film FestivalBest Actor Female - Jury Special AwardPink
2017Zee Cine AwardsBest ActressPink
2017International Indian Film Academy AwardsBest ActressPink
2017International Indian Film Academy AwardsWoman Of The YearPink
2017Lux Golden Rose AwardsPower Packed Performer Of The Year AwardPink
2017Lux Golden Rose AwardsBreakthrough Beauty Of The YearNaam Shabana
2018Zee Cine AwardsBest Actress Naam Shabana
2018Zee Cine AwardsExtraordinary Impact Award – FemaleNaam Shabana
2018GeoSpa AsiaSpa AwardsBest Actress CriticsNaam Shabana
2018Streaming AwardsBest ActressNitishastra
2018Lokmat Most Stylish AwardsMost Stylish Youth Icon
2018Hindustan Times India's Most Stylish 2018Rising Star of Style
2018Lux Golden Rose AwardsBreakthrough Beauty Of The YearManmarziyaan
2019News18 Reel Movie AwardsBest Actress in a Leading RoleManmarziyaan
2019BizAsia Online Awards 2019Best Actor-FemaleManmarziyaan
2019Critic Choice Film Award 2019Best ActressManmarziyaan
2019Screen AwardsBest ActressManmarziyaan
2019Screen AwardsBest Actress Mulk
2019Jashn-E-Youngistan AwardsBest Actor -FemaleMulk
2019Zee Cine AwardsBest Actor - Female Mulk
2019Filmfare AwardsCritics Award Best ActressMulk
2019News18 Reel Movie AwardsBest Actress in a Supporting RoleMulk
2019BizAsia Online Awards 2019Best Actor-FemaleMulk
2019BizAsia Online Awards 2019Best Actor-FemaleSoorma
2019BizAsia Online Awards 2019Best Actor-FemaleDil Juunglee
2019Femina Beauty AwardsStyle and Substance
2019Hindustan Times India's Most Stylish 2019Style Trailblazer
2019GQ Style & Culture Awards 2019Excellence in ActingManmarziyaan
2019Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards 2019Jodi Kamaal Ki Award Saand Ki Aankh
202065th Filmfare AwardsCritics Award for Best ActressSaand Ki Aankh
202026th Screen AwardsBest Actress Saand Ki Aankh
202026th Screen AwardsBest ActressBadla
2020Zee Cine AwardsBest Actor – FemaleBadla
202021st IIFA AwardsBest ActressBadla
2020Ananda Vikatan Cinema AwardsBest ActressGame Over
2020Critics' Choice Film AwardsBest Actor – FemaleGame Over