It’s her thirteenth interview in a row when we meet Tabu, but the actress shows no sign of exhaustion. Sipping chai in her vanity van, she admits that this is the least favourite part of her job. “I just wish the producers would start recording interviews when they shoot. That would give me more time with the journalist. I like to have quality interviews and that requires me to spend more time with the interviewer. I don’t like to give mechanical answers to everyone.” Having said that, the actress takes our questions head on anyway.
Tabu became a part of Abhishek Kapoor’s Fitoor at the last minute when the film was half way through shooting. Tabu wrapped up the film in only 21 days. “It was a different experience. I don’t know if it was difficult. I felt that I had very little time to establish a relation with the film on the whole or with anybody in the film, which is a good thing. I still haven’t completely felt a part of the film. I felt that it got over so quickly! By the time I realised I was in the film, it got over.”
The actress, who made rare appearances on screen the past few years, has accepted roles more often in the past two years. “Back then the industry was going through a turn and nothing seemed right. Maybe now I am getting more projects that I’d like to be a part of. Times have changed. We have all come to a stage where we all can align with each other’s thoughts,” she says.
Her prerogatives as an actor have changed too. “The length of the role has become less important to me but the overall viability of the project has become very important. It has to be backed by a producer who will present it well. It has to be worth your time; the release and everything else also have to come together. Just a good role is not enough, it has to be supported by other stuff also.”
Her transition, says Tabu, has been on a personal level too. “I don’t expect too much. I don’t take things too seriously and am able to let go and move on more easily than I used to.”
Does that mean we’ll see more of her on screen “I have refused more films than I’ve agreed to. Oh God! Terrible,” she says with a smile. “But now I am going to make up for that time.”
We ask her to pick a film or role closest to her heart. “Maqbool would be one of my favourites apart from Hu Tu Tu. I don’t think I have done an intense love story like that after Maqbool.”
What about Cheeni Kum “I would love to work with Mr Bachchan again if given a chance. That role was closest to me — to the kind of person I am.”
There’s one thing though, that hasn’t been ticked off the list. “I want to do an action film,” she says as she signs off.
