It was 30 minutes of fun, laughter, going down memory lane and pulling each others’ leg when Team Dobaaraa — led by its leading lady Taapsee Pannu and comprising producer Ekta Kapoor and actor Pavail Gulati — met Team TT at The Lalit Great Eastern during their promotional pitstop for the Anurag Kashyap-directed sci-fi film, based on time-travel, that is now playing in cinemas. The Telegraph is a media partner of the film.

Before we sat down for the chat, Taapsee — fresh and glowing in a yellow and green dress — had a blast hammering through a Dobaaraa-themed pinata cake.

“This is a version of naariyal phodo. Pinata cake phodo,” laughed Taapsee, with Ekta, dressed in a bright orange number, going click-click. “No one else has done this for us! This is so sweet,” said Ekta. “Ours is a very chocolate-y film!” laughed Taapsee, with a twinkle in her eye and tongue firmly in cheek.

Priyanka Roy (TT): Dobaaraa has been getting unanimously positive reviews...

Ekta Kapoor: Yes, on an average of 3.5 to 4 stars. This is to make up for my last few films that got no stars! (Everyone laughs)

Priyanka: Taapsee, you took the script of Dobaaraa to Anurag Kashyap and asked him to get someone to direct it for you. Why didn’t you ask him to

direct it?!

Taapsee Pannu: It was a script written by a Spanish director (Oriol Paulo) who was already making it into a film (Mirage). From whatever little I had known of Anurag till then, I was not sure if he wanted to direct a remake. Mostly, he likes to write his own stuff, and I thought he won’t do this.

Dobaaraa is not a regular Kashyap film. He makes those rooted and raw, very human and set in the hinterland films.... Dobaaraa is science-fiction... it’s beyond his antenna range, so to speak! (Laughs) That’s why I didn’t think of him as someone who would say ‘yes’ to a film like this. I thought one of his proteges would do it... someone who is new and isn’t scared of taking risks. Someone who wants to dive into the deep end and see what happens.

So I went to him (Kashyap) and asked for recommendations. He read the script and said, ‘It’s so beautifully written... I will do it’. For me, it was like when you least expect something and you hit a jackpot (smiles).

The many moods of Taapsee

Priyanka: Taapsee and Pavail, what was it like working with each other ‘dobaara’ after Thappad?

Pavail Gulati: Taapsee bullied me throughout (the making of) Thappad and Dobaaraa!

Priyanka: Your character in Thappad deserved that!

Pavail: I don’t deserve that as a person! (Laughs)

Taapsee: Don’t tell him that! He will have sleepless nights! (Laughs) He was so stressed during Thappad. He would say, ‘People are hating me, people are hating me!’

Pavail: That’s because I had an incident like that! She (Taapsee) was shooting in Benaras for Haseen Dillruba and I had to go there to shoot some promotional material (for Thappad) with her. The trailer had just dropped and there was this 50-55-year-old woman who came up to me at the airport and simply said, ‘You shouldn’t have done it! You shouldn’t hit women!’ And I was like, ‘Thank you maam, you have seen the trailer’. But the other people around didn’t know the context of it and they probably thought I had hit a woman in real life! And the woman again shouted saying, ‘Film ho ya jo bhi ho, you cannot hit a woman!’ By that time so many people started staring at me angrily that I got scared and had to exit the lounge! Meri free ki coffee chali gayi... I had to go and buy it outside! (Laughs)

Zeba Akhtar Ali (Team TT): This film is so many things in one. Ekta, what genre do you think Dobaaraa fits best into?

Ekta: This is the ‘Taapsee genre!’ (Everyone laughs) The genre-bender!

Taapsee: A genre that you don’t know what it’s about! (Laughs) I keep hopping between genres anyway...

The superhit Dobaaraa- themed pinata cake — courtesy Caramelle — was a piece of edible art consisting of three elements. First was the backdrop with overcast skies and lightning, illustrating a warning matching the film’s horror theme. The second was a box television set — layered with sponge, ganache and buttercream while the outside was finished off with fondant — with the figure of a child watching it. The third was the pinata made of dark Belgian chocolate, which was broken open with a wooden mallet, revealing a mini chocolate cake with the numbers 2 and12 (aka dobaara)

Priyanka: At least Dobaaraa doesn’t look like a sports film. You have done too many of them recently!

Ekta: No more running!

Taapsee: In this film, I am walking. Anurag said to me, ‘You have been running too much! Now you will just walk!’

Ekta: What are you talking about running?! She has zoomed through 25 years in Dobaaraa...

Pramita Ghosh (Team TT): Since Dobaaraa is about time-travel, is there an era you want to travel back in time to? And is there a historical event you would want to witness?

Ekta: The day India gained Independence...

Pavail: I want to go back to a time when there was no social media. I hate the pressure of it! I am getting better at it, but I wish we didn’t have it.

Taapsee: Unlike most who enjoy their college life, I enjoyed my school life a lot. That’s where I had my confidence-building of speaking my mind or trying my hand at dance and all types of sports and public speaking.... I was the head girl of the school, I was the student of the year.... I really thrived during my school days.

Priyanka: Which other film in the genres of sci-fi/ horror/ thriller do you think could be adapted well in the Indian milieu and context?

Ekta: Sliding Doors....

Taapsee: I think you can adapt any film if you really want to. You just have to connect with the Indian backdrop or root it to an Indian incident or character. I think a recent film in this genre that one could adapt could be The Adam Project.

Priyanka: And you do have a thing for Spanish films…

Taapsee: I love Oriol Paulo! I am not at all apologetic about the fact that I officially pick up his scripts and make them in Hindi because he is an outstanding writer. I have now told him directly, ‘Even before you make a Spanish film, before you talk to anyone else, you directly give the script to me, na! (Laughs) Just seal it here only!

Pavail: There is this 2013 film called Coherence. Not a lot of people have seen it because it’s not on any streaming platform. It’s just seven people in one room and no VFX, no nothing... just a thought. It’s beautiful and if you watch it with your friends you will have a three-hour conversation after that.

Zeba: Have you guys ever been caught in a storm like in Dobaaraa? Mumbai, after all, is famous for its rains...

Pavail: For this movie, we had planned to shoot in Mauritius. Before the shoot, Taapsee took a trip to Mauritius saying, ‘Okay I will go with my friends and my family and check it out!’. Finally, we didn’t end up shooting there...

Taapsee: I was forced into a holiday!

Pramita: But you love travelling….

Taapsee: I love travelling, but there was a cyclone in Mauritius! Imagine if we would have shot there, VFX ke paise bach jaate! (Everyone laughs) There was a warning to not step outside. It was quite crazy! I mean going there to shoot a storm waali film and then actually mein a cyclone has happened there. So that was quite eerie.

Ekta: I had gone for two holidays last year and when I reached there, I realised both were among the two most haunted places in the country! One was in a place right next to Darjeeling… Dow Hill. Someone told me, ‘Yahan bhoot ghoomta hain!’

And then I went to Mussoorie and there is a famous hotel, which is one of the most haunted hotels in the country. I was in a room that was in the old part of the hotel, which was the most haunted part of the hotel. I was like ‘perfect!’ (Laughs)

Priyanka: Which has been your scariest horror movie-watching experience?

Pavail: I can’t watch horror!

Taapsee: Any horror movie! I went for The Conjuring and sat in the last row and for some reason, the four seats next to me were empty. And I was getting nightmares of someone slapping me! I couldn’t sleep the whole night and I decided I wouldn’t watch any horror movie ever!

Pramita: What is it like acting in front of a green screen for a horror film and pretending to be scared?

Taapsee: I have done a horror-comedy called Kanchana 2. It was one of the most successful films down south and people don’t realise that you have to act in front of nothing! I had to imagine something slowly coming in and then growing into something big... and then it is attacking you and there is actually nothing! So people who do these VFX-heavy films, you should really respect those actors for making something out of nothing.

Priyanka: Like Dobaaraa, if you had the choice of picking someone who would speak to you from your TV set, who would it be?

Taapsee: My younger self. I would tell her that you are going to be a public figure, so be prepared to lose your private life. Be ready to become public property....

Ekta: I think it would be Tulsi (from Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, produced by Ekta) because she would tell me that in the later years there will be something called social media and that opinion will win over creativity. And there would be something called troll. That’s how we troll!

Zeba: If you had to go back and fix something in your life or career dobaaraa, what would you pick?

Ekta: Not taste sugar! (Everyone laughs)

Taapsee: I will not eat French fries!

Ekta: I think the worst thing that happened to me as a kid was that somebody must have said, ‘Beta, ek mithai kha lo’. And that changed my life! Now, I spend half my time working and the other half in the gym.

Taapsee: Apart from French fries, I don’t want to correct my mistakes ya! The only thing I would have probably done is that I would have acted a little more during my school and college days. I had no experience whatsoever. If I did, I would have probably got the hang of how it is to be an actor before becoming one.

Pavail: I would go back in time and tell myself to be less anxious, I think.

Taapsee: I would also tell that to your younger self. Calm down!

Pavail: You tell me that every day! I think I put a lot of pressure on myself. So I would just tell myself, ‘Calm down. Life is good, life is going to get better and better. It’s fine. Everything’s going to happen.’

Pramita: Time-travel to travel! Taapsee, we know you love travelling with your sister Shagun. Ekta and Pavail, who is your favourite travel partner?

Ekta: My official answer would be my son Ravie.... And unofficial partner, I am not telling you!

Taapsee: Unofficially... I don’t want the son around!

Ekta: I love it Taapsee... Your sense of humour is killer! (Laughs)

Pavail: Me and my school friends, we are still very very close, so we try to take a trip every year. We really wanted to go to Japan but kabhi mauka hi nahin mil raha hain. I have a very freaky friend... woh jo Goa ka plan banaata hai par kabhi bhi nahin jaata hain!

THE STORY BEHIND THE PICTURES

TAAPSEE : I wear saris on all my holidays because I generally like it. I also wear saris to my meetings sometimes, which many people find really weird because they think it takes effort. For me, it only takes five minutes, the same as any other outfit. This picture was clicked at Saint Petersburg and to get the perfect shot, I walked five times up and down the zebra crossing. My sister would wait for the signal to turn red and I would walk and the people who were walking by found it really weird!

TAAPSEE: This is a vineyard on the outskirts of Nice. I wanted a picture with the grapes. I come up with all these ideas. For some reason, my sister’s (Shagun) Insta game is better than me. I come up with these ideas, but her Insta game is better. She is actually more photogenic than me... but I am more intelligent!

EKTA: Tusshar (Kapoor) is the smarter sibling. He has come to terms with so many things in life, which I have not come to terms with. He always tells me to connect to everything but remain detached with everything. I don’t think I have this kind of wisdom. He’s calmer; his way of handling a situation is so much nicer. I actually feel like, yaar yeh toh masterpiece hain... yeh rough job (points to herself) pehle nikla… and then the masterpiece came!

EKTA: This is my dad (Jeetendra), with my son (Ravie) and my nephew (Laksshya). In my house there are grandchildren and dog children. Hamare ghar mein bas bachche beemar ho sakte hain ya dogs!

PAVAIL: I love animals. I have two cats in Bombay and I have a dog in Delhi. I also feed a lot of stray dogs and cats in my society. This was a picture on a beach in Goa. It was just after the lockdown and the dogs there weren’t fed well because tourists were absent. This buddy just came up and just hung with me the whole day.

PAVAIL: I would call this picture ‘a dream come true’. I always wanted to work with Anurag Kashyap. I love the man more than the director. This picture is the first time where Anurag sir and I were in one team and were making fun of Taapsee. That’s why I was like, ‘My God! I have to laugh the hardest!’

TAAPSEE: This is from the wedding scene in Manmarziyaan with the voiceover of ‘Main tainu phir milangi’. I have played a south Indian bride, a north Indian bride, a Christian bride in many films, but this was the first time I became a Punjabi bride. I belong to the Sikh community and this was special. This was a very candid moment, where I was waiting for my shot to happen.