In an August 2019 interview with Scroll.in, Tabu said she would love to write a book—but was unsure whether it should be about herself or her observations of the world. She did not announce a memoir or commit to an autobiographical format. The conversation also explored why Andhadhun stayed with audiences, what she valued in playing Simi, and how working with Mira Nair affected her career and perspective.
What Tabu said about writing an autobiography
Asked whether she would be interested in writing her autobiography, Tabu replied, “I would love to.” But she immediately left the book’s subject open: “Should the book be about myself, or maybe observations about stuff, about the world?” Her answer expressed an interest in writing, not a settled plan for an autobiography. This was the position she described in the interview published August 19, 2019; it does not establish what she may have decided later.
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Why Andhadhun kept people talking
Tabu called Andhadhun a rare film of hers that remained fresh in public conversation. Scroll.in’s 2019 interview reported that she had received the best actress award at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne for the film and that it had won three National Film Awards; those are the interview’s award claims, not independently verified here.
In the film, Simi tries to cover up her husband’s murder. Tabu was struck by the story’s psychological effect and its ability to leave viewers curious: its knots are not easy to untie, and its questions continue beyond the immediate entertainment of watching it. She credited the writing and format for helping the film sustain that conversation.
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Simi’s shifting moral compass
Tabu described Simi as funny without being a caricature, and as a person whose moral compass keeps changing. The character’s uncertainty gave the actor a different kind of role to inhabit. Tabu said Andhadhun opened new possibilities for her and for the kinds of characters written for women on screen.
That perspective sits within a career that includes Maachis (1996), Kandukondain Kandukondain and Astitva (2000), Chandni Bar (2001), Maqbool (2003) and Haider (2014). In the interview, she framed the experience of a role or project in terms of its capacity to change how she sees things: “Something shifts, and it can never go back to being the same for you.”
How The Namesake shaped her work with Mira Nair
Tabu recalled receiving a late-night call from Mira Nair, who invited her to play Ashima in The Namesake. She had read the novel and felt a strong affinity with the character. The film, she said, opened doors “in my head, in my life, professionally and personally,” introducing her to new worlds, people and ways of thinking about filmmaking and being.
She also recalled that Ang Lee had seen The Namesake and cast her in Life of Pi without meeting her first. That connection, as described by Tabu in the interview, illustrates how one collaboration could lead to another; it is her account of how the casting happened.
What was upcoming in 2019: A Suitable Boy
At the time of the interview, Tabu had been cast as Saeeda Bai in Mira Nair’s adaptation of Vikram Seth’s novel A Suitable Boy. She said she could not discuss the project yet, so the interview provides no further account of her approach to the role. Scroll.in’s 2019 article described the 1993 novel as 1,349 pages; the figure is attributed here to that interview.
This is a historical status update from August 2019, not a statement about the series’ present availability or Tabu’s current projects.
How Tabu evaluated roles and validation
Tabu said she preferred to read a script: “I prefer to read a script – the word is the truth.” She also valued a narration that conveyed how the director and writer conceived the character. Her comments point to both the written role and the creative interpretation behind it as parts of how she understood a project.
Asked about validation as an actor, she described it through reactions from audiences, reviews, colleagues and friends who were emotionally invested in her work. It was not one single measure, but a range of responses to a performance.
Read the original interview
Nandini Ramnath’s interview, “Why Tabu continues to evolve: ‘Something shifts and it can never go back to being the same for you’,” was published by Scroll.in on August 19, 2019. Read the full interview on Scroll.in.
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