Tapsee Pannu From Being A Techie To An Actor

Engineer-turned-actor Taapsee Pannu is the woman of the moment. In a candid chat with ‘H&N’, she talks about her journey from being a techie to an actor, her weight loss secrets, dare devilry stunts and more…

- Harsha Advani

My 12 p.m. meet with Taapsee starts by 12.10! The lady is pretty punctual. Just back from her vacation in Norway, Taapsee looks fresh – her skin is flawless and glowing.

We settle down at her cosy yet chic apartment in Mumbai, and start by complementing her about her place. To which, Taapsee happily replies that she is now the proud owner of her first home in the city, and is very excited about doing up the interiors herself…

In our hour-long chat, Taapsee lets us in on her journey till now – from being an engineer and rejecting an offer from Infosys to doing South films, fighting fat and being hailed as the actor of substance in Bollywood today.

Childhood – Fun, Yet Stubborn

“I am a typical middle class Sikh girl from Delhi. But as a kid, I was very stubborn. I remember I was in the eighth standard when I started wearing glasses, but wanted to wear lenses just a year after that. And my dad thought that I should wear lenses after turning 18. So the entire ninth standard, I fought with him. I would lock myself in the bedroom and not open the door, until he agreed. That’s how I got my lenses in 10th standard. Everyone thought I would be a lawyer as I was so persistent about everything.”

All-Rounder

“I went to Mata Jai Kaur Public School, Delhi. I was good in sports, trained in kathak for eight years, was always among the top 10 scorers of my class, and was the head girl and the student of the year.

“I took up engineering as I loved maths and physics, and continued all my cocurricular activities in college too. I participated in debates, formed my own dance group in college - I joined Shiamak’s dance group later.”

Modelling Stint