Sonakshi Sinha recently ditched her desi look and took to the stage in a cool and carefree tapori avatar during the Colors Screen Awards. Mostly, the casual look with high collar, unbuttoned shirt, rustic tones and rowdy walk was a periphery only male Bollywood actors ventured into. But it seems our hot babes are not shying away from becoming cool.
Is playing the sexy gunda hard for actresses? Ragini Khanna, who claims to enjoy the bindaas avatar on television, says that one only needs to understand these characters. “It’s fun to do some dadagiri on screen. Unlike other female characters tapori roles do not have so many layers and therefore is one of the most interesting and easy characters to portray. Unfortunately, there are not many such roles for female actresses,” says Ragini.
Be it Anushka Sharma in Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola, Deepika Padukone in Lafangey Parindey or Kareena Kapoor in Golmaal 3, there is something about actresses playing bold tapori characters, says Vishal Bhardwaj’s associate director and casting director Honey Trehan.
“A tapori role offers both the actor and director enough room to experiment. Though actresses are very particular about their screen image, not everyone can pull off such roles. Deepika and Anushka have shades of taporiness to most of her characters,” says Honey.
From happy-go-lucky Aamir Khan in Rangeela to Imran Khan in the upcoming sequel of Once Upon a Time In Mumbai and Ranbir Kapoor in Besharam, the audience have always enjoyed rough edges to the character.
However, Honey insists that whenever an actress has donned the interesting tapori avatar, it usually worked. “The rough-tough tomboy Sridevi in Chaalbaaz is one the most memorable tapori roles ever. Even Juhi Chawla in One, Two Ka Four was much liked. I believe Priyanka Chopra can pull off a tapori role very easily,” he adds.
From acting to costumes, tapori roles have a lot of unforgettable elements, says choreographer Pony Verma. “Asin in Dhinka Chika from Ready and Sonakshi with Prabhu Deva in Oh My God! are some of the latest tapori tap dance numbers where actresses are seen trying out cool moves and expressions. It’s fun choreographing such songs as long as actors are willing to shed inhibitions. A tapori song can be an added spice to such roles,” says Pony.