"Kareena Kapoor is the best to work with," says stuntwoman Geeta Tandon

Bollywood’s stunt woman, Geeta Tandon talks about her journey and upcoming film, Kalank
Geeta Tandon
Geeta Tandon

Hanging from cables, jumping off horses, driving cars at high speed and chasing goons are all in day’s work for Geeta Tandon. We met Geeta, the stuntwoman of Bollywood, after the session The Changemakers: Bollywood Behind the Scenes at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival 2019. As we sat down for our interview, Geeta,who shared the story about her journey as part of the session, seemed ill at ease. “I haven’t done so many interviews at once,” she said anxiously.

Geeta is one of the women featured in the book, Changemakers: Twenty Women Transforming Bollywood Behind the Scenes, that was released late last year. Ever since then, she has also been a guest speaker at various literature festivals, in addition to continuing her work in films. “I didn’t have much money or opportunities while growing up. So whatever life offered, I took it. There were days when I would be hungry for two days. Today, I am grateful that I became a stunt woman and I was able to earn enough to live a decent life and educate my children as well,” says Geeta who has just finished work on the upcoming big budget film, Kalank.

Geeta worked closely with Alia Bhatt for a train sequence and a song in Kalank. “I love working with Alia. She is very bindaas (carefree) and grasps instructions quickly. I have also worked with her in Raazi. Usually, I do the rehearsal and show the actor how it’s done. Alia always does it even better than me,” revealed Geeta.

However, the stunt woman’s all time favourite is Kareena Kapoor. “Kareena ji is the best! It’s always easy to work with her. She is very open to ideas and instructions,” added the artiste. Now that she has made a mark in a male-dominated section of Bollywood, we ask Geeta what’s her advice to aspiring female actors.

She says, “I feel that, going forward, only talent from within the film families will be promoted. An outsider will be able to get a break only if extremely talented or is rich enough to work his or her way up,” she signed off.

ayeshatabassum@newindianexpress.com
@aishatax

 

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