My character in 'Running Shaadi' closest to me: Taapsee Pannu

Mumbai:  Actress Taapsee Pannu is very excited about the release of "Running Shaadi", and says the character she portrays in the movie is similar to her real self.

"I am very proud of `Running Shaadi". Dada (Shoojit Sircar, who has produced the film) gave me `Pink` after seeing what I could do in `Running Shaadi`. I can tell you this without hesitation that my character Nimmi, in this film, is the closest to the person that I am in real life."

How?

"Like Nimmi, I am a Punjabi, a sardarni. But I am a little wary of the way Punjabi men and women are portrayed in our films. They are always loud, always aggressive, forever singing dancing screaming. Yes, all this is a part of the average Punjabi`s DNA, but all sardars are not boisterous all the time."

"A Punjabi woman also has a softer and more gentle side. This, I`ve shown in `Running Shaadi`."

Taapsee`s biggest temptation to do "Running Shaadi" -- which also features Amit Sadh -- was the opportunity to break away from stereotypes.

"The Punjabi girl I play is different from what we see. The Bihari guy Amit Sadh plays is not the stereotypical Bihari speaking person in the sing-song voice. In fact, when Amit was researching for his character, he met a Bihari gentleman who told him, `Bihari is not a language. It`s an attitude`."

"That one sentence became the basis of Amit`s character. Like I said, this girl in `Running Shaadi` is the closest to the kind of person I am, while the girl in `Pink` was very different from who I am."

The fact that she played a character very close to her heart helped Taapsee a lot in "Running Shaadi".

"I took the liberty of asking for changes in scenes and constantly questioning him. Amit Roy (the film`s director) was very flexible. He was worried about my accent.But I got it right. I had such a ball shooting with the two Amits."

"We would shoot for 12 to 13 hours at a stretch, But I never felt the weight of the long hours. That`s the spirit I want to shoot in," she said.

Taapsee is confident of scoring a post "Pink" success with "Running Shaadi".