I am stubborn and headstrong and I like the way I am: Tabu

The main door of her house in Andheri has been given the look of a fortress and two-time national award winner for Best Actress — Tabassum Hashmi, or Tabu as we know her — doesn’t need to give a reason for that.

“I know that I am speaking to After Hrs after four years. Actually, I haven’t sat for a proper interview after Cheeni Kum. I had nothing to say and I didn’t feel like it. I am like that. I don’t do things that I don’t want to do. My sister, my mother, ,they are all aware of that and nobody ever asks me to go against my own wishes,” says Tabu as she sits down for this interview.

We tell her that she is becoming like an Aamir Khan in the sense that she is letting most offers go off her hand. Most scripts that came to her after Cheeni Kum were rejected outright.

“Kedar (Shinde) and Ramesh Taurani approached me for a movie and I was told about the script in one line. I liked that one line but soon, the way I am, I lost interest in the project. But the producers and Kedar dropped the project because I didn’t say yes. I realised what was happening and immediately said yes to the project.”

But film-making is also a career option and doesn’t she get financially hit when she keeps on rejecting film roles and reality show offers.

“Yes, I don’t earn too much money, you are right. But see, I am happy with what I have got. I have got a nice flat in Andheri as you can see and I have got a big bungalow in Hyderabad. I don’t need more. I don’t want to earn more money by doing random films so that I can get a better place to live in. I am happy with what I have got. I am stubborn and headstrong and I like the way I am,” says Tabu who also holds a record in winning the most number of Critic’s Choice Awards in India.

So, is she drifting away into film-making from acting? Here she pauses, “I guess it’s a natural progression for me. I would like to make a film for sure. I am working on a few stories. But before that I want to take a long break and travel around a few countries. The way things are going on I think very soon I would not be able to travel freely in some countries. When I come back, film-making seems to me as the next best option,” she signs off.