Ahead of her upcoming action thriller ‘Gandhari’, Taapsee Pannu has opened up about the challenges and double standards faced by women-led action films in Bollywood. Nearly a decade after headlining Naam Shabana, the actor, who has worked in the action genre across theatrical releases and streaming platforms, spoke about the budget constraints surrounding female-driven projects and the higher expectations placed on them compared with male-led action films.
Taapsee Pannu on budget constraints for female-led action films
In a candid conversation with News18, Taapsee addressed the financial challenges involved in mounting women-led action projects. She pointed out that action is an expensive genre, while producers are often reluctant to invest heavily in films led by female actors.“I’ve done action on the big screen as well as on OTT now. Pehli baat toh budget bahot lagta hai (For starters, the budget required is huge). Action is an expensive genre to make. And obviously, it’s not a hidden fact that money invested to make female-driven cinema is way less. Most people aren’t willing to put in a lot of money because nobody wants to watch those films. They aren’t interested. This has been tried, tested and proven,” she said.Taapsee noted that perceptions around audience interest eventually translate into smaller budgets for female-led action films.“The audience for these films isn’t as large as that for action films led by men. That’s why there’s a lot of budget constraint,” she added.
Taapsee Pannu says there is little room for error
Taapsee also highlighted what she sees as an uneven standard applied to male- and female-led action films. According to the actor, male-led entertainers can sometimes succeed despite predictable plots or average storytelling, while women-led projects are subjected to much closer scrutiny.“I don’t want to take names, but compare the women-driven action films to the male-led action films that came out lately. You see mediocre storylines, gloss and glamour, fancy action sequences and all the expensive stuff! These films end up collecting so much money. People don’t care about the storyline. Plot predictable hai but chalta hai. (The plot is predictable, but it works.) People call them ‘paisa vasool entertainers’(Complete value-for-money entertainers),” she said.She argued that the expectations change when a woman is at the centre of an action film, with audiences scrutinising the story, performances and action more closely.“They say, ‘Kya bakwaas story hai yeh! (What a ridiculous story this is)’ Suddenly, the whole focus is on the storyline. If you want women-led actioners to work, the action, the story and the acting need to be perfect. Sab kuch achcha hona chahiye. Unnees-bees nahi chalega. (Everything needs to be perfect. Second-best won’t cut it.) You’ve to be better than the best,” Taapsee said.The ‘Pink’ actor further explained that limited budgets can add another layer of pressure for the cast and crew of female-led action films. She said filmmakers are effectively expected to deliver a flawless product despite having fewer resources.“You just aren’t allowed to go wrong. It’s almost like, ek toh humne tumko kam paise diye aur uske andar bhi tum galti kar rahe ho! (First, we paid you less money, and on top of that, you’re making mistakes) You don’t want to put this pressure on the entire team. But if it’s a male-driven actioner, everything is allowed,” she said.
Taapsee Pannu on getting a bigger budget for ‘Gandhari’
Taapsee said she was grateful that Gandhari received relatively stronger financial backing, particularly given the costs associated with producing an action film.“We feel thankful that we got to make Gandhari, at least for the OTT space. The budget of Gandhari is more than that of ‘Manmarziyaan’, ‘Haseen Dillruba’ and ‘Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba’ because on paper, humein zyada paise mile hai (we got more money). That’s also by virtue of our social status. Plus, making an action film is an expensive affair. And on OTT, there’s no stress of recovering the budget,” she said.
More about ‘Gandhari’
‘Gandhari’ stars Taapsee Pannu alongside Ishwak Singh, Chhaya Kadam, Mita Vashisht and Swastika Mukherjee. The action thriller is set to premiere on Netflix on September 3.
