Taapsee Pannu : An Indian model-turned-film actress

Taapsee Pannu (born 1 August 1987) is an Indian model-turned-film actress, who has worked in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi film industries. Born in a Punjabi Sikh family, Taapsee worked as a software professional and also pursued a career in modelling before becoming an actress. During her modelling career, she appeared in a number of commercials and won titles such as "Pantaloons Femina Miss Fresh Face" and "Safi Femina Miss Beautiful Skin" in 2008.

After a short stint with modelling, Taapsee made her acting debut with the 2010 Telugu film Jhummandi Naadam directed by Raghavendra Rao. Since then, she has appeared in a number of critically acclaimed films such as Aadukalam, Vastadu Naa Raju, Mr. Perfect, and Vandhaan Vendraan. Her Tamil film Aadukalam met with critical acclaim and enjoyed commercial success upon release and eventually went on to win six National Film Awards at the 58th National Film Awards. She has also worked in a Malayalam film and has been signed in for three Telugu films and a Hindi film.

Taapsee was born on 1 August 1987 in New Delhi, India into a Punjabi Sikh family. She has a sister named Shagun Pannu and plans to launch her into films as well. She did her schooling at the Mata Jai Kaur Public School in Ashok Vihar, Delhi. After completing her graduation in computer science engineering from the Guru Tegh Bahadur Institute of Technology in New Delhi, she worked as a software engineer. Taapsee has developed "fontswap", an application for the iPhone. She became a full-time model, after she auditioned and was selected for Channel [V]'s talent show Get Gorgeous, which eventually led her to acting. Taapsee has appeared in numerous print and television commercials and won several titles during her modelling days, including "Pantaloons Femina Miss Fresh Face" and "Safi Femina Miss Beautiful Skin" at the 2008 Femina Miss India contest. As a model, she endorsed brands like Reliance Trends, Red FM, UniStyle Image, Coca-Cola, Motorola, Pantaloon, PVR Cinemas, Standard Chartered Bank, Dabur, Airtel, Tata Docomo, World Gold Council, Havells and Vardhman. She has also been featured on the cover of some magazines such as Just For Women and MaaStars. After a few years, she lost interest in modelling as she thought that she could never gain proper recognition through modelling but only through films, and finally decided to act.

Taapsee made her cinematic debut in 2010 with K. Raghavendra Rao's romantic musical Jhummandi Naadam. She played the role of a daughter of a US based millionaire who comes to India to carry out a research on traditional Telugu music. Taapsee got three more offers in Telugu prior to the film's release. Her next film Aadukalam (2011), marked her debut in Tamil cinema. She played the role of an Anglo-Indian girl falling in love with a rural fellow played by Dhanush. The film, set in the backdrop of Madurai, in a rural background, and revolves around cockfights. It was critically acclaimed and proceeded to win six National Film Awards at the 58th National Film Awards. Speaking about her role, a reviewer from Sify explained that, "Debutant Taapsee is a promising find and she suits the character of an Anglo Indian girl to the T." She returned to the Telugu film industry with Vastadu Naa Raju (2011) which featured her opposite Vishnu Manchu. She made a foray into the Malayalam film industry later that year, through Doubles (2011) opposite Mammootty and Nadiya Moidu. A review from Rediff commented that, "Taapsee Pannu as Saira Banu, whose entry into the scene becomes the bone of contention between the siblings, has nothing noteworthy to do".

Taapsee played a short role in her next release, Mr. Perfect (2011), in which she acted alongside Prabhas and Kajal Aggarwal was a moderate success. She starred in a high budget film titled Veera (2011) opposite Ravi Teja and Kajal Aggarwal, that received moderate reviews. She was next seen in her second Tamil film Vandhaan Vendraan that fetched mixed reviews and did not fare well at the box office. Her next film was Krishna Vamsi's Mogudu where she acted as a traditional Telugu girl opposite Gopichand and garnered critical acclaim for her performance. She is currently working on the Tamil–Telugu bilingual Gundello Godari—titled Maranthen Mannithen in Tamil— apart from Daruvu and Shadow She is also made her Bollywood debut through Chashme Baddoor where she shares the screen with Siddharth and Rishi Kapoor. The film is a remake of the 1981 film with the same title. Taapsee has opted out of Madha Gaja Raja, due to non availability of dates.