Was just a matter of time: Taapsee on thriving regional cinema

This year, her film The Ghazi Attack won the Best Telugu film at the 65th National Film Awards, with the chairperson of jury Shekhar Kapur hailing regional cinema over Hindi. And actor Taapsee Pannu says it was just a matter of time before people realised the capability of regional cinema.

"I think it's only now that people (in north India) are waking up to the fact that regional cinema is quite capable of giving Hindi cinema a run for its money. But, honestly, having worked there for some years now... I will say that it (regional cinema) was always there," Taapsee, who has also been a part of thought-provoking films like Baby and Pink, said.

"It was just a matter of time before people realised, recognised and opened their eyes to it. I remember when I debuted in regional cinema, my first Tamil film release won six national awards. I don't know how many films have that kind of a record. That happened in 2011," she added.

Taapsee believes one of the reasons that regional cinema is now receiving attention is its availability on different platforms, giving it more visibility.

"People in north India can now use different platforms to see southern cinema... subtitles being easily available. They can now see them, which was not the case before; otherwise it was always there and it was just a matter of time," the 32-year-old actor said.

With upcoming films "Mulk", "Soorma" and "Manmarziyan", all belonging to different genres, in her kitty, Taapsee says that while "Soorma" gave her the opportunity to portray a sportsperson, something she always wanted to do, "Manmarziyan" has fulfilled her dream of being a part of a "hardcore romantic film".

"I have been waiting to do a love story since the beginning of my career. Because the amount of emotion and because of the drama that is involved in the film... I think I have made up for so many years of not being part of a hardcore love story," she said.