Why Tabu was the only choice for Netflix’s A Suitable Boy – the notoriously picky Bollywood star of Life of Pi and The Namesake

Nov 4 , 2020

Indian actress Tabassum Fatima Hashmi, known as Tabu: Photo: @sureshnatarajan.in

Award-winning directors Mira Nair and Ang Lee are both admirers of Tabu’s work – which includes two recent Hindi comedies – and of the way she carefully chooses which projects she works on

One of the most respected and acclaimed actresses of her generation, Tabu – born Tabassum Fatima Hashmi – has starred in over 80 films in Hindi, English and multiple other languages and has far too many awards and accolades to name. What’s more, this year, there are smoke signals that the near-universal plaudits for her latest work – A Suitable Boy, now streaming on Netflix – is likely to get her an Emmy nomination, perhaps even a statuette.

She has caught the eye of international critics for a while now, be it the subtle perfection of her work in Life of Pi (2012) directed by Ang Lee, or her earlier work in The Namesake (2006) directed by Mira Nair. Both award-winning directors had high praise for their leading lady. Lee famously told the Indian press while promoting his movie in Mumbai: “It is a privilege to work with Tabu and Irrfan Khan – Tabu is sublime.” Nair loved working with Tabu so much, she was the first person cast for A Suitable Boy – in an ensemble that features dozens of actors and hundreds of people.

Still Tabu, now aged 50, prefers to stay in what counts in India as self-imposed exile in Hyderabad, far from the glitz of Bollywood in Mumbai.

On Film Companion, she joked that she was “essentially lazy”, but cinephiles and frequent Bollywood observers suggest she’s so reluctant to take on projects because of the paucity of high-octane scripts for an actress of her calibre. As Bette Davis said when she was offered mediocre movies, “It’s like asking Picasso to paint the wall …”

When asked by journalists about working with “the extraordinary” Tabu, soon after the closing night premiere at Toronto International Film Festival, director Mira Nair was complimentary about the actresses aversion to multiple projects, “I love the way she [Tabu] cherishes her art and she doesn’t fritter it away. She doesn’t do every offer given to her, she’s so beautifully careful, and it is to our great enjoyment, to the audience.” Nair would know, having worked with her over the past 15 years.