Taapsee Pannu: Being Punjabi really helped me for 'Soorma'

Saturday, 2 June 2018 07:00

Actress Taapsee Pannu said being a Punjabi helped her to play her character in the film 'Soorma'.

Taapsee, along with co-star Diljit Dosanjh and Indian hockey team's former captain Sandeep Singh -- whose life has inspired the movie -- was present at a promotional event of the film.

Asked whether being Punjabi helped her to play her character in 'Soorma', Taapsee said: "I took a lot of advantage of that. When you do a Hindi film which has Punjab as its backdrop, then there is a feeling of home ground... For me, the challenging part was learning to play hockey than playing my character.

"Normally, sportspersons have a very aggressive and go-getter kind of personality but my character despite being a hockey player is coy and soft-spoken off the field. I don't relate with that trait at all so that was a bit challenging for me but being Punjabi really helped for this film to play the character. Other than that learning hockey and getting to relate to the character's personality trait was bit difficult."

The 'Pink' actress said she was very embarrassed that she herself didn't know about Singh's journey.

"For me, the biggest thrill was that I got the opportunity to work in a sports film because I really like sports. I never imagined that I will play hockey.

"In fact, I never used to watch hockey matches but at the same time, being an Indian, I was embarrassed with the fact that I wasn't aware of the story of Sandeep Singh. Doing this film was probably a way to rectify that guilt. After this film, I hope that no one will say that they don't know who is Sandeep Singh," Taapsee added.

On her role, the actress said: "There were lot of people in Sandeep Singh's life who were instrumental in his hockey career and I am playing the character of a girl who was an important reason to be a hockey player that he was."

'Soorma' is directed by Shaad Ali and is releasing on July 13.

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