Tabu walked down the memory lane and recalled how director Priyadarshan prepped her to portray the role of Gehna Thakur in his action-drama, Virasat.
In a career spanning over several decades, Tabu has delivered many power-packed performances on screen and even bagged multiple prestigious awards. One amongst her several memorable acts is that of a village belle, Gehna Thakur in Priyadarshan’s 1997 film, Virasat. She even won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress (Critics) for her role in this movie.
Recently in a chat with Zoom, Tabu recalled a humorous anecdote from the sets of Virasat about how Priyadarshan helped her to step into her role. The ‘Chandni Bar’ actress shared that the filmmaker wanted her to have oily hair and look rustic. Initially, her hairdresser suggested her to apply a small amount of gel to add shine, but the filmmaker had a different idea in his mind.
Tabu recalled, “Priyan (Priyadarshan) wanted me to have oily hair and a village look. So, the hairstylist told me to take a little gel and apply it to make it look oily. When I went on set, he said, ‘I asked you to put oil.’ I said, ‘Yeah, a little. Nice shine is coming.’ So he let it go and then came back with a bottle of coconut oil from behind and poured the entire thing onto my head. ‘This is what I mean by having oil in your hair,’ he said. But then it was very easy for me. I didn’t have to do any hairstyling. I used to get ready in five minutes. Long hair, apply oil, braid it, and go to the set.”
Priaydarshan’s Virasat is a remake of Bharathan’s Tamil hit Thavar Magan which was written and produced by Kamal Haasan. The film also featured Anil Kapoor, Pooja Batra, Amrish Puri and Milingd Gunaji in pivotal roles. In the original film, Tabu’s role was played by Revathi.
