It’s better if my man’s older: Tabu

She is unquestionably one of the finest actresses in the country. She has done films in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Bengali and her performances are the stuff that lingers in your memory long after you have left the cinema.

Entertainment Editor Movie Guru caught up with the immensely gifted Tabu to talk her about her new film The Namesake, friends in the industry and indulgences.

Movie Guru: Where had you been? I can’t even remember when I last saw you in a film.

Tabu: I don’t remember myself. But I was shooting for Chini Kum. That’s what I have been doing since last May.

Movie Guru: But you can’t deny that you have been taking it slow. Haven’t you?

Tabu: Yes. In the past two-years. I’m not excited about everything that comes. I’ve been around but I have been working, travelling and doing my own stuff.

Movie Guru: Ofcourse that one we are all looking forward to is Namesake. Before we start off on the film, lets talk about the book. you have been a fan of the book even before the film came along.

Tabu: Yes. In fact I also liked her (Jhumpa Lahiri) earlier book Interpreter of Maladies. I loved the stories. But I found The Namesake even more intimate. And when I read the book, I thought it would make for a fabulous film because it’s about four people, it’s poetic, it’s beautiful.

Movie Guru: You had no idea that someone is planning to make a film?

Tabu: Not at all. The film wasn’t even conceived. It happened three years later that Mira announced the film. And it was really exciting for me that The Namesake was being made into a film. And it was so easy for me to visualise when I was reading the book.

Movie Guru: The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival a few weeks ago. And I read a few very interesting Hollywood reviews that have called the film a modern masterpiece.

They have actually said some very nice things about your performance and I know you are very embarrassed to talk about your performance. So we won’t talk about that. Tell me the experience of making the film. How did it you’re your way? Was it destiny that the character you could relate to in the book came right to you?

Tabu: It was in a way a pleasant surprise that the film came to me. Mira called when there were hardly two weeks for her to start filming.

It was difficult to absorb. And the fact that I so always wanted this book to be made into the film and I could identify with Ashima’s character so well. And also because of my background in Kolkata. My close personal association with it so it was really exciting, but I didn’t know how things were happening.

I knew the language of cinema, the principles, unit is all the same but I knew that as a physical experience, this would be totally different from making movies in Mumbai. And I wanted to experience that myself.

I was really excited about going to do that. I can’t put my finger on what I wanted that time, but I knew I wanted some deviation form the routine. This really gave me the ground to do that.

Movie Guru: Right after Namesake, you worked in Chini Kum with Mr Bachchan. What’s interesting about the film is, correct me if I am wrong, about a relationship of an older man with a younger woman. Tell me a little about the film.

Tabu: It’s interesting in a way that it’s real and the characters are being themselves. It’s not about pushing a point that – older man, younger woman, romance can happen. It’s not like trying a reverse psychology or anything like that. It’s very simply and realistically dealt with. There’s no propaganda. That’s the beauty of the film and the way it’s written.

Movie Guru: Now since you have said it’s a believable relationship, I’m going to ask you a hypothetical question. Could you ever get involved with an older man?

Tabu: Yes. Sure. Why not? I would definitely be.

Movie Guru: That’s something you could relate to.

Tabu: For me it will be better if the man is older.

Movie Guru: You have done films in so many languages. Did you have to learn all the languages for them?

Tabu: Yes.

Movie Guru: Was it tough?

Tabu: The toughest was Malayalam. And because I did Kaala Paani when I had just started, and I went there thinking ‘Oh I know Telugu so Malayalam will be a child’s play and I will learn it’.

And I go there and get freaked because I didn’t even know a word similar to Telugu. And I was working with the giants of Malayalam cinema – Mohanlal.

People said he has won the National award 12 times and I was like ‘Oh my God what to do’. They said Santosh Sivan has won it some seven times and Priyadarshan has made some 47 hit films and I used to shake everyday when I used to wake up.

Priyan (Priyadarshan) is used to taking long shots and do the whole scene in one shot. It had a terrible and a tough time. I was this girl form Mumbai and Priyan always had this thing about ‘you girls from Mumbai only want to dance’ now I tease him about it.

Movie Guru: Now he is making films like that.

Tabu: Yes. But that time he was like a taskmaster. But ofcourse they had great love for me and they took me under their wings and I must give credit to Priyan and the whole team of Kaala Paani that something in me change and discover myself.

Movie Guru: Isn’t that a starting point of the shift of doing towards regional and off beat cinema?

Tabu: I was doing Kaala Paani, Maachis, a Telugu film with bikinis, at the same time. So I was getting different perspectives working with fabulous people who remain in my life. And then I went on to do eight films with Priyan, which is a record. I did Malayalam films with him. I did Virasat.

Movie Guru: You were so good in Virasat.

Tabu: Thanks. So 0Malayalam was the toughest. Tamil was still better because it has little similarity to Telugu. But I was Mani Ratnam, Rajiv Menon who I was very intimidated with, especially Mani sir when I did Iruvar.

But ultimately I realised that it was so good for me to have done all that and to experience this whole mix of though processes - so many schools of acting, direction, filmmaking. It was great and I look back with a lot of gratitude to all these people.

Movie Guru: How much preparation do you put in advance into a role and how much is just spontaneous?

Tabu: I cant articulate about acting because I haven’t studied acting as a subject so for me it’s difficult to understand what’s happening.

But because we have learnt by trial and error and experientially, I can say that it’s something that happens on the set and when it is actually happening. I don’t remember having prepared for any role. Ofcourse I have read the script if I have got one.

Movie Guru: And there have been many many times when you haven’t?

Tabu: Ofcourse. This whole script thing is very recent. After Prem, I got a script for Maachis and after that I didn’t get a script for any other film. I don’t think any of the actors and actresses of my generation did.

Movie Guru: Do you still write? Very few people know about that. You write poetry which only Gulzar sahib was allowed to read.

Tabu: No poetry. But I used to always scribble and I used to take all my writing to Gulzar sahib like a schoolgirl. And he used always read and give me these lovely notebooks to write on and they are all filled with some rubbish that I must have written. I used to, but not any more. I didn’t do any serious writing.

Movie Guru: Any chance that I’m getting to read them?

Tabu: You wouldn’t want to read them. But I think it’s a nice skill to be able to write. I love reading good writing and good thinking by a writer, like Paulo Coelho.

I’m reading his new book Like a flowing river. It’s so impactful and I feel it’s a great job that writers do. It can so influence people. It’s so much like films. There are so many books that have made a difference in my life. So I’m a fan of people who can express beautifully and who can really affect you with what they write.

Movie Guru: Is it true that there us a difference between actors and stars?

Tabu: I don’t know if it’s so segregated and simple. If you are a celebrity and you’re famous, then you are a star. So it doesn’t matter if you are an actor, sportsman or a musician.

Movie Guru: Do you think of yourself as an actor or a star or a bit of both?

Tabu: In my mind I can think anything. But I don’t know what the outside view is. That I don’t know. But you should be able to tell me.

Movie Guru: You have been on the top of your game.

Tabu: I can think of myself as the maid to the Princess or the diva. But I think I’m actor to start with.

Movie Guru: That you are clear about?

Tabu: Yes. I wanted to do that. I mean it grew on me.

Movie Guru: You were in it for the right reasons.

Tabu: I wanted to work sincerely in whatever I do. Because I always thought somebody will punish me if I didn’t work sincerely. I didn’t bother about the result – good or bad. But my director should never say you didn’t do it well and you could have done better or I am unhappy with your work.

Movie Guru: Has a director ever told you that?

Tabu: Yes.

Movie Guru: I don’t believe that.

Tabu: Horrible…No actually. But for me it was important. I always thought that my job was to act so I was totally removed from everything else.

Movie Guru: What are biggest star trappings, indulgences? I know you hate makeup. I know how difficult it was for me to get you to do this interview. You love to travel in know.

Tabu: Yes I love to travel. If I like some good jewelry, I pick it up. But I don’t like to spoil myself. It doesn’t suit me to have an extravagant lifestyle because I haven’t been brought up like that.

So if I wear a huge 10-karat diamond ring, I’ll feel I have borrowed it from somebody and worn it. I’ll feel it doesn’t go with my personality. I like to spend on things I enjoy. My travel ofcourse but nothing else.

Movie Guru: I think the biggest indulgence has been the home that you have built for yourself in Hyderabad?

Tabu: Yes. That was a dream for me to have a big house because I know in Mumbai I will never be able to afford a bungalow.

Movie Guru: Hyderabad is a city that is special to you.

Tabu: My friends are there and I feel good there. It’s like an escape, actually like a retreat.

Movie Guru: They say two actresses can never be good friends.

Tabu: I’m not friends with anybody. Nobody wants to make friends with me. I don’t know about that. But my long lasting friends are males.

Movie Guru: So who do you call up at three in the morning.

Tabu: Nobody will take my call at three in the morning. Trust me everybody switches off their phone at 10 and goes off to sleep. Bu I have friends. There are many. They all have families so I said they wouldn’t keep their phones on. But if they are single they will keep their phones on.

Movie Guru: Best of luck. Hope you will always dazzle us with your work like you always have.