She has the inborn, uncanny ability to surprise, on and off the screen. ‘Reel-istically’ speaking, the actor continuously thinks out of the box, with a natural spontaneity that is pleasing because it seems so effortless. She is known to leave her mark on almost every frame in each of her films. But, just when she has created a buzz at the box office, flooring critics and audiences in India and abroad with her flawless acts, instead of capitalising on her success, the peerless performer has often vanished into her real-life private and free spaces – in Mumbai, Hyderabad and sometimes overseas – before resurfacing, often months later with yet another bravura offering.

Even after almost two decades in a proverbially plastic industry, Tabu (born Tabassum Fatima Hashmi) who was first known as Shabana Azmi’s niece and Farha’s younger sister, has also surprisingly pulled off the impossible by retaining her genuineness.
Circa 2007 so far has belonged to the 35-year-old actor. The applause for the Mira Nair-directed The Namesake was still being heard, when along came R. Balki’s Cheeni Kum, an endearing romance between a much-older man and a mature woman. As Tangdi Kabab to Amitabh Bachchan’s Ghaas Phoos, she held her own in a movie that could have so easily gone the ageing hero’s way.

So, it is on a Friday morning, that we are waiting for her at the suburban Mehboob Studio.... Anticipating a ‘slight’ delay Bollywood style, she takes us by surprise as she arrives on the dot of time. As ace lensman, Farrokh Chothia, continues to set up, Tabu’s tall and slim frame settles down in the make-up van…. She listens carefully to suggestions from our creative director, Falguni Kapadia.
Tabu – a girl who grew up on a diet of books like The Enchant–ed Garden and Alice In Wonderland – never harboured any starry aspirations or dreams of acting. “I was fond of the usual feminine frills and fancies, loved putting on talcum powder, had long hair and a favourite doll to play with,” she states. “But I did not have any desire to join films. I got into the movies by chance and timing, not out of a desire of wanting to be here. I still have a desire to run away. That is why my first instinct is always a refusal!”

Luckily for her fan following, her refusals notwithstanding, she has built up a creditable body of work that has earned her the sobriquet of being a ‘serious, thinking actress’. She looks at me askance. “I will do anything for the fun of it,” she says. “I enjoy the interaction with people and do what comes from the heart. For me, acting is an experience. It happens. I cannot write an article about it, I cannot put it into words. Am I appearing dumb when I say this? I don’t understand the technique or the intricacies of cinema. I just know my work. I am a simple person and do not understand all these complex questions and processes. I swear that I cannot answer serious questions.”

I remind her that Amitabh Bachchan had complimented her on her natural rendering of her role. “That was truly kind of him,” she says. “I do not know why I have got this serious image. I am not like that. You cannot make up your mind about someone by looking only at their work. I have never claimed to be an intellectual but somewhere I must be one if everyone continues to ask me the same questions. I am intelligent but there are people who are far more intellectual than me.”

At the risk of contradicting her and being rebuked, I insist that it is commonly – and critically – felt that Tabu draws on her inner reserves for her myriad roles and puts a bit of herself in each performance. That she is a natural actor, nonpareil. “True,” she agrees promptly, to my surprise. “If a little bit of me is seen in my roles, it is because I am playing them. Your work, no matter what it is – writing, acting, singing, drawing – will carry a part of you. I am producing ‘my children’ so they will be like me. But the end result is a combination of many things, not just me – the script, the director, the lighting, my co-stars…. But the truth is that I am not a Bengali nor was I married to someone who lives in America nor am I a 35-year-old in love with a 65-year-old....”
As she moves away before the lens, I think that she has – in a deeper sense – been all those and much more. When she returns to flop down at my side, I tell her that we are going to find a bit of herself in a few of the roles she has assayed over the years, starting with the most recent…and then in random order.