Women's Equality - Is Still Far Away

Taapsee Pannu opens up to Outlook Money about her journey, shares her views on women's financial independence and what makes her tick

- Nidhi Sinha

One of the things that kept playing in my mind on my way to Juhu's High Tide Apartment in Mumbai to meet actor-producer Taapsee Pannu was the strong character she played in her 2020 movie Thappad. That is only one of the women-oriented films in Pannu's filmography, which includes Pink (2016), Saand Ki Aankh (2019), Badla (2019) and Rashmi Rocket (2021), among others. And then there was Dunki, which I watched only recently, where she is one among a gang of friends looking to immigrate to London in the quest of better financial prospects. In this movie, too, Pannu, holds her own when she refuses to go back to India with her boyfriend in a high-strung drama.

The fact that many films, at least in some part, mirror social realities, I wondered how much of what films show can translate into reality. In Thappad, Amrita Sabharwal, played by Taapsee, is shocked out of her wits when her husband slaps her at a party. Over the next few days, she goes through a mix of emotionsfrom loss of self-respect to a sense of betrayal to the need of finding herself, independent of anyone else. Soon after she walks out of the marriage which she had been devoted to until then.

The movie is a powerful statement on domestic abuse, which is rampant in the society but is scarcely taken seriously. But Amrita finds scant support the mother and mother-in-law tell her to forget the incident, her brother shares the view and the husband is least bothered.

The only support Amrita finds is in her father. But can an average Indian homemaker who is not financially independent take such a stand and walk out of a marriage, especially when families often withdraw their support in such situations? "No, they cannot, and I feel they should not," says Taapsee, during an interview with Outlook Money.