'You dare say that about Shah Rukh Khan': Taapsee Pannu on industry double standards

Dubai: Taapsee Pannu has never been the kind of actor to stay quiet about the things that frustrate her about the film industry. In a recent interview with Times Entertainment, she spoke candidly about ageism, and what she said was both unsurprising and deeply telling about how the industry continues to treat women differently.

The actress, who entered Bollywood in her mid-twenties, recalled spending the first three to four years struggling to land roles of any real substance. By the time she had established herself, she was told a different version of the same problem. "By the time you make a mark, you've crossed 30. Then they say you're not young enough to be featured in a rom-com," she said.

"So even till date, there are so many times when I feel like, 'But you don't really need a younger person for this role.' Yet they still want to go younger. It doesn't really happen the same way with men. Of course, we can all see that. But yes, ageism is a big thing."

The South had its own version of the same problem

What makes Taapsee's account particularly pointed is that the ageism was not limited to Bollywood. She faced a different but equally frustrating version of it in the South film industry, where being cast opposite a senior actor apparently made younger male stars reluctant to work with her.

"The moment I was cast opposite a relatively senior actor, the younger actors didn't want to work with me. They were like, 'Oh no, she's been opposite that actor, so now…'" she recalled.

"You dare say that about Shah Rukh Khan. You know, an actress's life changes after working with Shah Rukh Khan. So that taboo is not here, but that taboo was there for me when I worked in the South."

It is a double standard so ingrained in the industry that it rarely gets named out loud.

Finding a way through it

Rather than continuing to fight a battle on terms the industry had set, Taapsee said she eventually arrived at a different approach. After what she described as "an extreme amount of beating and burning out," she decided to stop chasing the roles the industry said she should want and focus instead on the ones she actually wanted to play at this point in her life and career.

It is a quieter kind of resistance, but perhaps a more sustainable one. Her recent film Assi, a legal drama directed by Anubhav Sinha in which she plays a lawyer fighting for justice for a rape survivor, received strong critical acclaim and is now streaming on ZEE5.

The industry may keep moving the goalposts. Taapsee, it seems, has decided to play a different game entirely.