Born and brought up in a Sikh family in Delhi, Taapsee Pannu stole a million hearts in the South Indian film industry and now is making waves in the glamourous world of Bollywood. On a beautiful sunny Sunday, she catches up with JFW on how she decided to trade engineering for movies.

“I think people are lying when they say you can be best of friends with another actress.”

We throw a customary ‘can actresses be best friends?’question at Taapsee and she clearly says it’s just not possible to be competitive in the first half of the day and best friends post pack up. As a young girl in a new city, she swears by one of her closest friends, Lakshmi Manchu, who in many ways stood by her when she started off her career. She says, “I think people are lying when they say you can be best of friends with another actress. I can’t do that as I believe they are my competition and I can’t compete with the people I love.  Apart from Lakshmi Manchu, all my close friends are not from the industry.”

“I don’t feel jealous of any of my peers’ roles or success. When I see them doing good movies, I do feel happy for them.”

Being one of the top ranked actresses can’t be as simple as it sounds and Taapsee says she does believe that if you do your best in the role you have given, it’s not difficult to maintain your stand when it comes to good cinema. She says, “I don’t feel jealous of any of my peers’ roles or success. When I see them doing good movies, I do feel happy for them. It’s important to co-exist cordially and each one has enough space to do a lot of work.” Somehow, Taapsee has managed to keep her ground and did not let her success get to her as she believes, “Acting is a profession which won’t stay with many for decades together. We are all here for a little time and I want to do my best in the years that I spend in the industry and make the most of it. I don’t really have time to feel jealous or think about anyone else’s work.”