Days into the poster launch of Rashmi Rocket last year, Twitter was abuzz with naysayers claiming that Taapsee Pannu’s chiselled body was the result of VFX. Now, as she is nominated in the Best Actor (Female): Film category at the mid-day and Radio City Hitlist OTT Awards, we begin our chat by revisiting the period. Was she perturbed by the detractors? “It was validating. The goal that I had to achieve by the end of the training was validated. I had issues when people questioned my physique. Just because I am a woman and one hasn’t seen proof of my workout, it doesn’t mean they can doubt a woman’s capacity to have that body,” she asserts. The film’s subject of gender-testing practices in sports drew her in immediately. 

Having first heard the story in Chennai from a writer, Pannu took the initiative to ensure it is told to the pan-India audience. “[It is shocking] that a woman can’t be allowed to participate in a female category in sports because of her hormone imbalance. I wanted the world to see this film. When I read the script, a few scenes gave me goosebumps, especially the climax where she is talking to her baby in the womb.”