Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
She rarely decides to do movies these days, but when she is done with one, the experience is nothing short of magical. With a stellar act in Haider, the showers of praise for Tabu’s performance in the film have been incessant.
The glow of joy reflects on her face. Ask her how she feels and she beams with happiness. “It feels great. It is amazing and I want to thank everybody who has liked it, appreciated it and had an experience watching the film. Haider has been an extremely emotional journey and I am filled with gratitude because my act has been so beautifully accepted and appreciated”, she smiled. But ask her about the reason why she does few films and she laughs it off, saying, “Woh bahut purana question ho gaya hai ab”.
Haider, an adaptation of Hamlet by Vishal Bhardwaj, has the actress playing a character based on the prince of Denmark’s mother Gertrude, who’s known to have many facets to her personality. But Tabu’s nuanced and subtle interpretation of Gertrude as Ghazala did bring her a lot of hurrahs. However, she avers that it did not require much prep to slip under the skin of the character.
She says, “Actually, I don’t think you can prepare for a character like this because no matter how much you think about it or prepare for your role, eventually you have to be the character and preparations cannot make that happen. I, too, did not prepare anything beforehand but everything came together beautifully. It was some kind of a force which could help me convey the layers of the character. People have loved my character so much that even New York Times said that the film should have been called Ghazala, which to me has been the ultimate compliment and the biggest accomplishment!”
And although Haider is not a typical commercial blockbuster, it did hold its own despite being released alongside the heavily promoted commercial entertainer Bang Bang.
About the gap between the conventional and unconventional getting bridged, Tabu reckons, “Today, everything has changed in the movie business and it goes to show that all kinds of people want to watch all kinds of movies and all kinds of minds are evolving and accepting different stuff. People are ready to embrace what cinema gives them. If they like it, they take it. or else they don’t. But they give every film a chance today,” she signs off.
