What was it about Rani that we rooted for her in Haseen Dillruba (2021), despite knowing that she was a murderer? A part of the magic lay in the writing. But credit goes equally to Taapsee Pannu who brought her feisty attitude as well as vulnerability to the character. Reprising the role in Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba, the actor admits that playing the morally dubious Rani is tricky.
“With slightly grey characters, the idea is to approach them in such an honest way that the audience feels that even they can make such a mistake. If you are able to convince viewers of that, you are victorious. In the sequel, Rani is doing all the wrong things, but for the right reasons,” she grins.
ADVERTISEMENT In Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba, Rani and Rishu—essayed by Pannu and Vikrant Massey respectively—continue to evade the police, but are faced with a new romantic entanglement in the form of character. Getting into the Netflix sequel, Pannu kept in mind what the audience liked about her character. “I noticed the things on which memes were made.
People liked the way Rani uses gender not to be a victim, but to get her way. So, I retained that.” In her 11-year Bollywood career, she has steadily carved an image of an actor whose films spark discourse—be it about consent through , or domestic violence with Thappad (2020).
Tell her it’s a fantastic place to be in, and she laughs, “It has become a borderline problem. It has become difficult to get cast in a film that doesn’t hav.