3 min readMumbaiFeb 25, 2026 10:10 PM IST
Taapsee Pannu has clarified that her recent remarks, in which she discussed Bollywood being obsessed with cleavage and the South film industries focusing on the midriff, were taken out of context. She claimed that the body part doesn’t matter as much as the fact that there’s an “obsession” with the male gaze across the industries.
“I feel even in Hindi films, they do focus on the midriff. And the person who was asking me this question said, ‘No, in Hindi, it’s more about cleavage.’ So, I said, ‘Maybe. I don’t know,’” clarified Taapsee. Taapsee had this conversation on Shubhankar Mishra’s podcast, when the host asked her about the South filmmakers’ obsession with exposing the midriff of leading ladies, particularly at the time when Taapsee started her career there in 2010.
“For me, it’s about a certain gaze, whether it’s cleavage or midriff. I don’t know what the obsession is, but let’s own there’s an obsession, whether in Hindi or in South. Which part of yours is highlighted, that’s not the point. The point is, there’s an obsession. I never really demarcated it like Hindi is obsessed with cleavage and South with the midriff,” said Taapsee on Galatta Plus.
She added that she was never asked to expose her midriff or pad up her bras in Bollywood because she never did those kind of glamorous roles here. However, she was asked to do the same when she was working in South. “It was obviously awkward for the director as well because they had to convey this to me. And how do you do that when the set hardly has any females, right? So, you have to convey via-via-via. When she comes back from the van, the director obviously has to check whether it works or not. So, this whole process is slightly awkward,” said Taapsee.
Taapsee also defended doing those parts because she was new to the industry and didn’t know any better. “I was too new. I thought this was how it’s done. The director is the captain of the ship, and you have to listen to the captain. I had to do it, unless it’s really crossing the line. You also feel this is what heroines are doing, so I’m also supposed to do this,” said the actor.
She also pointed out that she’s never done those glamorous roles in Tamil, but only in Telugu. “I never look back at it thinking I wish I hadn’t done those parts. Because if I didn’t do it, I’d always be craving to do that. No matter what you do, you want to be called a mainstream actress. Unless you don’t do those parts, you won’t be called a mainstream actress. I did that to know okay, I can do this, but I want to do something more,” added Taapsee.
