‘Babli Bouncer’: What’s special about Tamannaah Bhatia’s film in which she features as a bouncer

National Award winning director Madhur Bhandarkar is known for making women-centric films such as ‘Chandni Bar’ (2001) and ‘Fashion’ (2008). His film ‘Babli Bouncer’, which is now streaming on Disney + Hotstar, stars Tamannaah Bhatia in a unique avatar. The movie is set in North India’s ‘bouncer town’ -Asola Fatepur and it will see the actor portraying the role of a female bouncer. The film also stars Saurabh Shukla, Abhishek Bajaj and Sahil Vaid in pivotal roles

Was Tamannah the first choice for the role?

In an interview with DNA, Madhur Bhandarkar was asked if Tamannaah was the first choice for ‘Babli Bouncer’. The director revealed that he did consider multiple actresses for the role, but then the pandemic hit and things were not moving as per plan. He later narrated the film to Disney+Hotstar who suggested Tamannaah’s name.

‘When we make a film, multiple times we think of (casting) different actresses. The same happened to me. Then the pandemic happened, things were not moving and later I narrated the film to Disney+Hotstar. Thereafter, we obviously kept thinking about who should we cast and they said why don't we see Tamannaah Bhatia,’ he said.

Did you know Madhur Bandarkar had not seen any of her films?

The director disclosed that he had not seen any of Tamannaah’s films except ‘Baahubali’ part one.

He further talked about the process of roping in Tamannaah and said, ‘I met her, interacted with her before narration and while my writer was narrating I was looking at her thinking how she would look in the role. I felt she had the body language, the persona and I could see she is Babli. Now, the only thing was that many wondered that she has done several films down South, she has an accent...how will she be able to play a Haryanvi character. So, I got her to do a diction class (to play the role). I just asked her to get the accent right and assured her we will definitely get the best performance (out of her).’

What all did Tamannah learn to get into the skin of the character?

Tamannaah learnt several things while working for 'Babli Bouncer'. Besides, learning Haryanavi, the actor also learnt how to ride a motorbike and how to beatbox.

Talking about how she prepared for her role, she said: ‘I learnt riding a bullet, before this, I had ridden a scooty. So, I think the most difficult part is to ride a bullet because it is a very heavy bike, so it took me a bit to get comfortable with that. I also learnt beatboxing, I never knew beatboxing was not beating someone but it's a type of voice, the different sounds that we make, that too I learnt for this film.’

Madhur believes the film will be a ‘game changer’ for Tamannah

Madhur Bhandarkar has described Tamannaah’s character in the film as ‘feisty, prankster, naughty and romantic by heart. He said that females in his films are different, at times submissive like Tabu in ‘Chandni Bar’. But Babli has opposite elements.

‘We wanted to make a light-hearted comedy, but at the same time, you will find the characters very real. They aren’t over the top, something far-fetched from reality. Because I have an audience who watches Madhur Bhandarkar films in a manner. I wanted to keep that essence because my audience is important. They know my films are real,’ he said.

Madhur believes Babli Bouncer is going to be a 'game changer' for the actor’s career.

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