Tabu has always been an enigma wrapped in alluring mystery. She has always done her own thing, right from the beginning of her career, choosing films not for their commercial viability but because they satisfied the actor in her. Such conformity to ideals wouldn’t have been easy but thankfully she has got a super support system in place. For someone who has played powerful women-centric roles, the inspiration comes from her immediate world. For the first time, she speaks openly about the support she’s got from her mother, her elder sister Farah
and even her young nephew Fateh Randhawa. Excerpts from a straight-from-the-heart interview…
Few are aware of your fun loving streak, which is in such a contrast from the serious roles you play…
I’ll die if I’m around people who don’t have a sense of humour. I can’t live without it. (Laughs) Recently, I’ve distanced myself from good friends, who didn’t have a sense of humour. I can’t deal with them. They are lovely people. But I can’t feel heavy when I’m with them. A sense of humour is important in our lives. Everyone in my family is born with a funny bone. It’s not easy for outsiders to handle us. Whoever gets married in our family will take a long time to get used to our sense of humour. We are also judgmental about people who don’t laugh at our jokes. I have serious instructions from my family. They will reject any guy who doesn’t get our jokes. So I’m trying to find a guy like that.
Tell us more about your family…
It’s a funny family. My immediate family is small… my mother, my sister (Farah), her husband (Sumeet Saigal), her son (Fateh Randhawa from Farah’s earlier marriage with Vindu Dara Singh) and me. Then I have a huge extended family… relatives, 24 first cousins, out of which eight of us are close. Two of them are in Mumbai. I have no brothers. I have a pet, a small Chihuahua. He’s part of the family. We’re a colourful and an intense set of people. Each one of us has our own characteristic, our own brand of humour. Also,
I have a set of friends who’re important to me. That’s my family. My friends are all over the world and of course in Mumbai too. They understand me and the space I need.
Please elaborate…
They leave me alone when they get a feeling I need to be left alone. There’s a certain unconditional acceptance that has come over the years because you have to put up with a lot if you have me as a friend. I get a lot of love from the people of the industry too. Some of them are my closest friends. Apart from the respect that my work gets, I’m glad to receive this love. And the best part is that I can feel the love is genuine. That’s my biggest treasure… where people love me without ulterior motives and expectations. They have forged a deep connection with me. There’s a long list of people who genuinely love me. That’s more than enough for a lifetime. It’s been a good life.