Taapsee Pannu calls out ‘star system’ in Bollywood; ‘There’s so much hypocrisy’ CineEye, October 13, 2023 Taapsee Pannu’s unconventional and bold choices make her stand apart. The Dunki actress has been a part of various successful content-driven films, making her among the bankable actresses in the industry. Keeping her A-game up, the actress on her professional front took a step ahead by launching her own production house, Outsider Films. As of now, she has produced two films, Blurr on Zee 5 and the recent one Dhak Dhak starring Ratna Pathak Shah, Sanjana Sanghi, Dia Mirza, and Fatima Sana Shaikh. Despite being on top of her game, the actress, in a recent interview, shared how low-budget films get affected by the ‘star system’ and discussed the hypocrisy prevalent in the industry. The actress further asserted that while signing a movie, she never asked about her co-star or how big the makers are. She recalled working with so many first-time directors and co-stars who were newcomers; however, she believes not others look at things the same way. Taapsee opined that it all comes down to the ‘star system’; even if the OTT platforms are there. She added, “Everyone involved is to be blamed for this culture. It includes the actors, studios, audience, and everyone. It’s a cycle. Just because the studios recover their investment (by selling digital rights) for the smaller films, there’s minimal interest in packaging and releasing a film well. That’s detrimental to the growth of the industry because you are only enabling the big names. Baakiyon ko chance kaise milega (How will the rest get a chance)? It will only widen the gap between actors and stars. We keep saying Bollywood doesn’t attempt something meaningful but when we try to do that, there’s rarely any support and this must change.” BREAKING News