Tamannaah Bhatia on working with Madhur Bhandarkar in Babli Bouncer: I admire him on so many levels

Tamannaah Bhatia has opened up about working with Madhur Bhandarkar in Babli Bouncer. Here's what the actress told IndiaToday.in.

Tamannaah Bhatia, who is gearing up for her next release Babli Bouncer, directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, gets candid with IndiaToday.in.The actress talks about her role in the upcoming film, working with Madhur for the first time, and how she is trying to bring a change through the film about female bouncers.

Tamannaah Bhatia and director Madhur Bhandarkar teamed up for the first time for Babli Bouncer. However, the actress reveals she was over the moon when the Fashion director approached her for the film. She said, "I got lucky. He is one of the filmmakers by whom I have been very inspired because he is the OG person who kind of did a lot of female lead films and all his female lead films are so memorable. Not just the films, but even the music, like I remember the tune of Fashion and the songs of Fashion, they were part of my playlist for a very, very long time. So I admired him on so many levels that I was like 'apna time aagaya hain'.

She further continued praising the director, "And also the thing is, before I met him I thought he was going to make a really, really serious film because he is known as a serious filmmaker, he makes these very intense films full of drama. So I was like, he's going to make me prep very hard, it will be a difficult one to shoot. But I'm telling you, as many skills and as many difficulties I had to actually go through, I didn't feel anything. He literally numbed it all out for me because he made it so simple and purely by just creating an environment on set which was so healthy, so much fun, and also sometimes, when the captain of the ship keeps the environment light on set, you don't worry too much. Sometimes I think worry can take over actors' mind, because we are over-processing things constantly. So he made sure nobody felt overwhelmed while working. I had a blast, it's one of my best on-set experiences in a very, very long time and it's been one of the most collaborative experiences. I think everyone was in sync. Everyone spoke to each other really openly and, for the first time, I felt heard. Like, when I would give him an opinion, he would listen, and he would never say 'Oh! Listen, I have so much experience or you don't know a thing', he never made me feel like that. I feel like that is his best thing, that he doesn't consider anybody below him or above him and he considers everyone equal. And I feel like that's why he's made a film which is kind of showcasing gender equality but with a lot of fun, which is what he really is. So I think it's one of the most authentic pieces of work for me and I'm hoping that it shows that side of Madhur sir that people don't know."

TAMANNAAH ON FEMALE BOUNCERS

When asked Tamannaah how she sees the narrative of female bouncers changing in a world where it is predominantly dominated by men, to which she responded, "When we talk about bouncers we always feel like a really huge person is going to come to usher us. But I feel like the narrative has slowly changed. I have, of course, over a period of time seen a lot of female bouncers, especially because we go out a lot in the crowd. Also, that's the only time I take the help of bouncers when I'm out, but on a personal note, I don't take anybody with me. I have always seen female bouncers doing a great job. Recently, I was in Trivandrum and was launching my first Malayalam film, so we were all in a temple in Kerala and I had, well, 12 female bouncers and 12 male bouncers because it was very crowded. I have always had female bounces in some capacity or the other. Of course, I didn't know I would be playing one someday, but now that I have, I think I really get what their life is- it's an interesting world."

Apart from Babli Bouncer, Tamannaah will feature in Nagashekar’s romantic drama, Gurthunda Seethakalam. She also has movies like Bole Chudiyan, Plan A Plan B, Bhola Shankar, Chor Nikal Ke Bhaaga and Yen Endru Kadhal Enben coming up in 2022.