‘I have played a different kind of card in my career,’ says Taapsee Pannu as she gears up for the release of Rashmi Rocket

‘I have played a different kind of card in my career,’ says Taapsee Pannu as she gears up for the release of Rashmi Rocket

Taapsee, whose career trajectory boosts unconventional characters, is all set to challenge an archaic gender test in sports with her new film, which releases on Zee5 on October 15

Showli ChakrabortyUpdated: Tuesday, September 28, 2021, 06:00 PM IST
article-image

Firebrand performer Taapsee Pannu believes in pushing the envelope of societal norms with every project she takes up. Most of her films are an awakening of sorts, be it Haseen Dillruba, Thappad, Pink or Manmarziyaan.

After garnering accolades for her performance in Haseen Dillruba and the recently-released Annabelle Sethupathi, Taapsee is back with another film, Rashmi Rocket, which releases digitally on Zee5 on October 15. The film has been directed by Akash Khurana and is bankrolled by Ronnie Screwvala, Neha Anand and Pranjal Khandhdiya.

The movie sees Taapsee playing Rashmi, a talented runner. She wins accolades for the country and climbs up the ladder of success. However, her life takes a turn when she’s called in for a gender verification test, leaving her shattered. Accused of being a fraud and banned from the national team, she files a human rights violation case and fights for justice with the help of a lawyer, played by Abhishek Banerjee.

Taapsee says she was aghast when she saw a video clip about a gender test. “The story came to me when I was in Chennai. I was shown this three-minute audio-visual clip about an archaic gender test. It has destroyed the careers of so many athletes. After seeing it, the realisation dawned upon me that despite following sports closely, I didn’t know anything about the issue. I Googled, and when I saw the results, I was taken aback. I couldn’t believe that something like this can exist in modern times. That is when I started calling up people and discussed the project,” Taapsee shares.

As an actor, Taapsee’s career trajectory gives an impression that she takes up roles that represent the modern young Indian woman, who is aspirational and courageous. Is that a conscious decision? “I have always tried to play characters that represent the young, aspirational women of India in the present day and time. I am not someone who wants to be this Bollywood diva who is oh-so-glamorous. I have played a different kind of card in my career. I have tried to portray women I’ve met in real life through all my roles. I’ve tried to talk about ordinary women growing up in the country who believe nothing is impossible. Those are the kind of women I always want to play on screen. I want to tell their stories, represent them in such a manner that has never been done before,” Taapsee says.

Most people, particularly men, have a certain concept of a woman in their mind. They feel women should look and behave in a certain way. Rashmi Rocket tries to question not just archaic gender tests, but also patriarchal notions about femininity. “You will see that athletes have a certain kind of body. First, because of the rigorous training they have to undergo, they end up having a very muscular build. They might have hormonal imbalances or hormonal abnormalities. You cannot say that one is not woman enough and jeopardise her career based on this stupid test. It is just bizarre. Also, what exactly are we trying to establish with a gender test? Are we trying to snatch away the identity of a woman? Or are we forcing her to change her genetics because we have this particular image of hers in our mind, about how a woman should look like? These are issues that we are questioning here,” Taapsee adds.

One of the first athletes in the world who suffered because of a gender test was Polish sprinter Ewa Klobukowska. She was mistakenly identified as ‘not female’ after the tests, and all her records and medals, including a gold and bronze from the Tokyo Olympics of 1964, were taken back. Her career came to a halt when she was just 21 years old. South African sprinter Caster Semenya, who won gold in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, was forcibly made to undergo sex verification tests at various stages of her career only because she seemed to have higher levels of testosterone than other female athletes.

Closer home, sprinter Dutee Chand was dropped from the 2014 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games after she ‘failed’ a hormone test, owing to her condition of hyperandrogenism. Chand, however, immediately took it up with the Court Arbitration for Sport (CAS), who ruled in her favour. Following this judgement, she was allowed to participate in the 2016 Rio Olympics, which did not set testosterone levels as a marker or a catalyst for enhancing performance on the track.

Any sports film entails the protagonist undergoing a physical transformation, which also requires a different mental setup. As someone who is naturally of athletic build, was this a tough hurdle to cross? “I started shooting this film right after Haseen Dillruba. Even while shooting for that film, I was already preparing for it physically. I used to wake up at 5 am in the biting cold, get done with my workout regime before going in for shooting at 10 am. We used to shoot for the whole day, and I would go to bed by 10 pm because if I didn’t, then I would be able to wake up early! This continued for months before I finally got to look like a sprinter. So, yes, I can easily say that this has been the most difficult role to play in my career, simply because of the physical and mental preparation that was required for the role,” Taapsee points out.

RECENT STORIES

'Sly & Shameless': Orry SLAMS Content Creator Whose Hand He Refused To Shake At Mumbai Event,...

'Sly & Shameless': Orry SLAMS Content Creator Whose Hand He Refused To Shake At Mumbai Event,...

Amruta Khanvilkar: 'I Was Mind-Blown After Heeramandi Announcement, Manifesting A Project With...

Amruta Khanvilkar: 'I Was Mind-Blown After Heeramandi Announcement, Manifesting A Project With...

Kangana Ranaut Compares Herself With Shah Rukh Khan: 'We Are The Last Generation Of Stars & Very...

Kangana Ranaut Compares Herself With Shah Rukh Khan: 'We Are The Last Generation Of Stars & Very...

List Of Bollywood Celebs Who Failed Miserably As Politicians

List Of Bollywood Celebs Who Failed Miserably As Politicians

EXCLUSIVE: Sunflower 2’s Sunil Grover Is Open To Swapping Sonu Singh For Any Female Character

EXCLUSIVE: Sunflower 2’s Sunil Grover Is Open To Swapping Sonu Singh For Any Female Character