Tamannaah Bhatia, who is basking in the success of her anthem Aaj Ki Raat from Stree 2, will once again seek acclamation with Neeraj Pande’s thriller Sikandar Ka Muqaddar. The actor reveals that her choices are always guided by instinct. “I am very instinctive by nature, my final decisions are always based on that. I do have mental conversations before I take a big decision, but I always go with instincts.”
This trait has no doubt contributed to her successful two-decade career spanning various industries. With more than 85 films to her name, Tamannaah says her main goal has been to try different roles. The actor, who plays one of the suspects in a diamond heist in Sikandar Ka Muqaddar, shares that it was the unpredictability of the character which drew her into the taut narrative.
“There is a monotony about playing strong women, and in cinema, she’s presented often as a heartless, cold sort of a person who uses every means to achieve their end. I find strong women too are nurturing, vulnerable, and deal with circumstances in a very hands-on fashion. I was happy to not play the quintessential strong woman, but a troubled and naive person who gets caught in an extraordinary situation,” she says.
Crowned as the film industry’s favourite “IT Girl and go-to star” for iconic dance numbers (check out Kaavaalaa), Tamannaah asserts that she doesn’t mind the labels of ‘sexy’ or ‘glamorous’. “Sexy means to look and be more like your gender. For me, glamour, and beauty are just me celebrating my gender. I genuinely feel that kids are conditioned that it is bad, to experience that aspect of yourself,” she says, adding that she recalled her mother telling her when she was just 10 years old, that she was too young to use the word ‘sexy’ or understand what it meant to use it. “Today, everything that is concerned with our sexuality is seen as a bad thing, but it is so natural to celebrate our gender. If I am feeling glamorous it’s me revelling in that, it is the best way that a woman can look at herself,” she adds candidly.
Tamannah is generous with her praise for co-stars Avinash Tiwary (who plays the title role of Sikander) and Jimmy Shergill, and director Neeraj Pande. Acknowledging that not all film sets are friendly, she says, “sometimes when you shoot a film, you don't get to spend as much time as you like with your colleagues. But, I feel I became friends with them.” She also expresses the view that the industry needs to feel like a community, as it lacks that feeling of oneness necessary to build an equation, and for the community to grow.
She cheers Avinash Tiwary, whose debut film Laila Majnu opened to packed theatres six years after being dubbed a disaster. On his part, Avinash says that more than for himself, he's happy for his director Sajid Ali, who lived under the impression he had made a terrible film. “Triptii and I managed to get some love, but our director didn’t. Today, seeing the houseful signs has reignited his faith in his craft. I think success does something to people, and I am happy the film is being acknowledged.” As Bollywood banks on the re-release of old films, Tamannaah and Avinash both agree that collaborating and encouraging each other is the only way forward. Meanwhile, even though rumour mills are churning with speculation that Tamannaah and her beau Vijay Varma will tie the knot next year, the actor remains tight-lipped about it. But she does divulge that she has a love for diamonds — “I am a rolled gold diamond person,” she laughs.
