Actor Taapsee Pannu takes a dig at Raghavendra Rao Actor Taapsee Pannu takes a dig at Raghavendra Rao

Actor Taapsee Pannu seems to miss no opportunity to hold the mirror to the Indian film industry that usually treats the female actors as inferior to their male counterparts in terms of salary and onscreen characters. Taapsee has ridiculed popular Telugu filmmaker K Raghavendra Rao over his interest in exploring the navels of heroines to create a sensuous experience for the audience on the big screen.

During a conversation with members of East India Comedy, Taapsee was asked what kind of image she enjoys in the south Indian film industry. “In the South, they think I can only pull off glamorous roles. When they saw ‘Pink’ and ‘(Naam) Shabana’, they were like, oh, she can even act,” she said.

When she was asked as to why the filmmakers down south are so fascinated about navel. “If I knew about this in my research before I’d gone to the South I would’ve worked on my navel. I clearly didn’t. The first day, they started with a song itself. And they are shooting a song which is the obsession over midriff,” she said.

“The director who launched me is known to have the Midas touch in terms of launching actresses. He has launched Sridevi, Jayasudha at that point.So it was his 105th movie with me,” she recalled.

“I saw Sridevi’s and others’ videos. Everyone had flowers and fruits thrown at them. My turn came and I don’t know, maybe I was not prepared as I told you, they threw a coconut at me. I don’t know what is so sensuous about a coconut hitting my midriff,” she added.

Taapse made her acting debut in Telugu in 2010 with Jhummandi Naadam, which was directed by Raghavendra. Earlier, she had written a heartfelt post on social media recalling the unfair treatment she was subjected to in the Indian film industry.

Taapsee has been gaining a lot of traction in the film fraternity after delivering a gripping performance in 2016 film Pink.

Taapsee is returning to Telugu cinema with Anando Brahma, a horror comedy. She played a cameo in Dongaata that came out in 2015. She was also seen in The Ghazi Attack, which had a Telugu release too. However, Anando Brahma will be her first straight Telugu film in two years.

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