Naam Shabana neither a sequel or prequel: Taapsee Pannu

Good things are finally happening to Taapsee Pannu’s career in Hindi cinema. While her 2016 movie, Pink garnered rave reviews, she also gave her nod to Naam Shabana, produced by Neeraj Pandey. 

The character is based on the one Tapsee played in Neeraj’s Baby, alongside Akshay Kumar. She’ll play a deadly Indian intelligence officer, who makes mincemeat of a terrorist in a hotel room.

Taapsee had to undergo rigorous training in action to get her character right in Baby and she worked twice as hard on the stunts in Naam Shabana. Says Taapsee, “I’m really excited about Naam Shabana. A lot of people felt my character in Baby had potential for development.”

However, the spunky actress clears the air about the relationship between Baby and Naam Shabana, which was earlier titled Meera. “While my character is going to be taken from Baby, this movie is neither a prequel or a sequel. It’s part of the Baby franchise, but it’s going to be an independent film even while the character is derivative,” she clarifies. 

The movie is set to be directed by Shivum Nair, best known for his documentary on the serial killer, Raman Raghav. It also has Akshay making a special appearance in an extended cameo, fitting, as he helped Taapsee with the stunts too.