Taapsee Pannu: ‘When I didn’t win awards for Pink, it broke something in me’

It is a good time to be Taapsee Pannu. The actor, ready with her tour de force Thappad, is coming off Saand Ki Aankh for which she is deservedly being feted at the award shows. However, award show juries have not always been that kind to Taapsee, a fact that she accepted in a recent interview and added that the only validation she needs is from the audience.

“The only time my heart broke and that pinch of not getting awards was in 2016 when Pink released. I was not nominated (for awards) and even in couple of places where I was nominated I didn’t win when everyone I met was raving about the film and my performance. So much so that Shoojit Sircar said get your clothes stitched, you are going to win all the awards,” Taapsee said.

“A girl, who was relatively new to the film industry at that point, did pin a lot of hopes and when it didn’t happen that year, it did break something in me. After that, nothing shook me further. Now when I get awards, I am thankful to the jury, critics have been especially kind to me but now that heartbreak doesn’t happen,” Taapsee added.

Read Thappad review here

The actor had famously said after being honoured at a fashion award last year that at least someone thinks she is ‘deserving’. “I am very surprised this year for they are actually giving me awards for my acting now, which I thought is the only thing people know me for. I am not a person who is called a fashionista or someone who is known for her glamour, I feel people know me for my films or performances,” the actor explained.

“ I never used to get awarded and that was really funny for me. I am not someone who takes herself very seriously or feels that if they don’t give me an award, pata nahi kya ho jayega. I don’t think awards validate my work; it is my audience that validates my work when they buy tickets for my films with their hard-earned money. Awards are given by a bunch of jury members and that is very subjective. They didn’t think I was deserving when Pink, Naam Shabana, Manmarziyaan and Mulk came… films that were spoken about and loved and I was not even nominated,” she said.

Calling her win for Saand Ki Aankh is a “refreshing change”, she laughs, “That’s why I had no speech ready and all I could say was probably I am not popular enough and that’s why you are giving me Critics’ Choice award.”