In her recent visit to Hyderabad, actress Taapsee Pannu opened up about her latest film, Naam Shabana, in which she co-stars with Akshay Kumar, Manoj Bajpayee, Prithiviraj and several others. Directed by Shivam Nair, the film had a worldwide release on March 31. At a special screening for the media in Prasad Labs, the team interacted with the media.

Speaking about the film, director Shivam said, “This is the story of Shabana, an ordinary girl from a middle class family who becomes a spy. After ‘Baby’, I met the film’s director Neeraj Pandey and told him about this character, and discussed the possibility of giving her a background. I told him everything I had in mind. Since he liked it, this film became a reality.”

Taapsee shares, “The response to my character in Baby was really good. In fact, it was in the midst of all the appreciation that director Neeraj Pandey called me and told me that a story on Shabana’s life would be great, and asked me if I was okay with it. I said I am ready, but if he was okay with it. Because in Baby, my character was small and had just a screen space of around 15 minutes. So it wasn’t easy to make an entire new film on such a small character. And now, after seeing the film, I am thrilled because it has come up really well. The unit was really supportive. It’s a big deal when a heroine takes the place of a hero and carries a film. Except for Rana, everyone from the cast of Baby is there in this film. This isn’t a prequel but is an in-depth spinoff of a character. This story is something very new for Indian cinema. I trained in martial arts for this film. It’s not easy to play a spy. Chashme Baddoor had me in a comic role, Pink was a serious drama. And this one sees me as a spy. Judwaa is a regular commercial film with a fun character. My character Shabana is that of a short tempered and aggressive girl. It was my belief in the director that helped me pull it off.”