Not getting typecast my greatest advantage: Tabu

National Award-winning actor says she’s satisfied with career graph so far

MUMBAI:

Bollywood actor Tabu is by no means a conventional performer. Her career is a cohesive mix of both content driven films like Astitva and Cheeni Kum and commercial entertainers like Biwi No.1 and Hum Saath-Saath Hain, proving her inimitable versatility as an actor. Tabu feels it is her choice to say “yes to every kind of cinema” that has prevented her from getting typecast in the Hindi film industry and that, she feels, gives her an edge.

When asked how she has managed to evade the typecast trap during her career, Tabu said, “I think that’s also my greatest advantage! If you look at my filmography, you will see every kind of film and every genre of cinema ... My kitty is full with all kinds of films.”

However, she maintained this was not a conscious decision by any means. “My kitty has been carefully crafted. The only conscious thing that I did was that I did not say no to any kind of films. I choose to say yes to every kind of cinema. I don’t look down upon any kind of films.”

If she has delivered power-packed performances in films like Maachis and Chandni Bar, both of which won her National Awards, she has also featured in commercial films like Hera Pheri, Coolie No. 1, Saajan Chale Sasural and Chachi 420.

Tabu, who stepped into filmdom in the early 1990s, has also worked in regional cinema by stepping out of the Hindi domain and signing up for Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Bengali and English movies. She explained that it is her plain desire to act that allows her to do every kind of film.

Asked if she is open to do the smaller budget, ‘festival films’, the 44-year-old said, “I need a wider audience, but if you are paying my price, then take it to festivals. I am okay! But money matters. I can’t be going to festivals and become the face of the film and trying to sell it. That’s not my job. I don’t want to become responsible for a film.”

But that doesn’t mean she wants to keep to performing in the front of the camera only. If she comes across a “great story and fantastic script”, she may produce it. “I can either act in a film or be the face of it. I don’t want to do both as it’s too much work,” added the actor, who will next be seen in the romantic drama Fitoor with Aditya Roy Kapoor and Katrina Kaif. She essays the role of Begum in the film and describes her character as overpowering.

“She is such a strong character. Her presence in the film is so overpowering that I just felt fortunate to have got this role. Ask me what I went through to get into the skin of the character ... I should have taken double the money,” she quipped.

Tabu said while she is satisfied with her career graph so far, there’s room for a lot more work. “I should be satisfied. If I am not satisfied now, then it’s very bad. There is always room for more and we all feel that we want to do more,” she said. 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2016.

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