Taapsee Pannu Reveals a Line from Thappad Chokes Her Up, as it Reminds her of her Mother

Taapsee Pannu has been breaking the clutter, one film after another. In Thappad, she hits back against domestic violence and has a very strong message for everyone, that even one slap is not okay.

In a recent chat with Barkha Dutt, Taapsee revealed how she has witnessed casual sexism in her everyday life. Speaking of the same, she says she has seen it in her own house as well: 

“All the time. Everywhere. (Getting to see the sacrifice of woman being normalised). I will rarely have examples for those who will not do this or see that they have an equal (right in marriage). There is a beautiful line that I came across recently ‘Shadi me hum ek to ho jate hain, barabar nahi hote hain (We become one in marriage, not equals)’. I think I see it everywhere. In my own house, between my mother and father. My mother always makes sure dad is happy, he eats first. Everything is first about him, which I have grown up and felt this is normal. This is how it is supposed to happen.”

However, she adds that because she does not have a brother, she has not witnessed any gender inequality. Taapsee also talks about how her mother in law’s character from Thappad is similar to her mother: “The mother-in-law’s character (in Thappad) is very similar to my mother. She might not be as bitter, yet, but it’s the same. Yes, she (Taapsee’s mother) is (bitter). She does feel she needs more attention, because she dedicated her entire life for three of us -me, my sister and my father - and all of us are way too busy in our lives to give her any time and attention. She does complain at times.”

Further, Taapsee reveals that a particular dialogue from the film always chokes her up, as it reminds her of her mother. The dialogue goes like: “College me kai dreams the kabhi best housewife banane ka dream nahi tha. (I had a lot of dreams in college and being the best housewife was not one of them).”

“Whenever I used to read that line, I used to choke up. Of course (I kept thinking of my mom). A lot of times (during the shoot).I can relate to a lot of things (my Thappad character and mother) because that is my only reference point.

“She chose this, because she thought it would be best for her. She was not taught any better, nothing to take away from any housewife. But think when she chose this, we could have done better,” Taapsee said.

Meanwhile, the trailer of Thappad has been making noise, for all the right reasons. Directed by Anubhav Sinha, the film also stars Pavail Gulati, Dia Mirza, Ram Kapoor, Kumud Mishra among others and is slated to release on  28 February 2020.