Bollywood actressTabu was on cloud nine last week. Not only did she receive the news of being chosen for the Padma Shri, a prestigious award announced annually by the Indian government on the eve of Republic Day on January 26, but is busy shooting in a Hollywood film by Oscar-winning director Ang Lee.
Tabu, who has wowed critics with her roles in both commercial as
well as alternative cinema and won a national award, is one of the five leading Bollywood personalities to be recognised this year by the Indian government. She is in good company, the others are actors Kajol, Shashi Kapoor, Waheeda Rahman and music director Khayyam.
In fact, when the newspapers carried the tidings of her receiving the Padma
Shri, Tabu was on her way to Pondichery, a former French colony on the coast of Bay of Bengal, in southern India to shoot for Lee's “Life of Pi”.
The film by Lee, the Taiwanese-American director, is based on 2002
Booker prize winning book by Canadian author Yann Martel and tells the story of an Indian boy, named after a swimming pool in Paris, who survives a shipwreck.
The entire crew of the film is absolutely tight-lipped about further details of the story of "Life of Pi".
Besides Tabu, the film also stars Golden Globe award winning actor
Gerard Depardieu, India's Irrfan Khan and Suraj Sharma, a teenager from
Delhi.
“Working with Ang Lee is turning out to be a brilliant experience,
just the way I thought it would be,” an elated Tabu told The Indian Express newspaper.