Abhishek has proved himself as actor; brave to pause, reflect and return: Taapsee

Mumbai: After a brief sabbatical from films, Abhishek Bachchan is returning with ‘Manmarziyaan’, and his co-star Taapsee Pannu calls the actor's decision to take a break extremely ‘brave and courageous.’

Post his 2016 release ‘Housefull 3’, Abhishek took time off from cinema as he went on analysing his career and where it was headed.

His decision to hold off for a while may show that the instability in the industry puts everyone on the same level, be it a star kid or an outsider, but Taapsee says for her, it only reflects one thing: strength.

“Abhishek will sometimes be sure, sometimes unsure of things, but you need strength to survive all the ups and downs. Then to take a break to sort things out and return with a film like 'Manmarziyaan'. It is not a conventional heroic film for him to do. It is very brave, and he is strong as a person to do that. It requires courage,” Taapsee told PTI.

The ‘Pink’ star says it would be wrong to say that Abhishek has not proved himself as a performer in the industry.

“If you talk about his background, he is Amitabh Bachchan's son, and he has a legacy on top of him. Yes, they (star kids) do get the privilege of being a star regardless of whatever work they do. But he has proved himself as an actor in films. It is not that he is totally devoid of good performances, and we all know that.”

The 31-year-old actor says there is both an advantage and a disadvantage in having a famous last name.

“They (star kids) will never have a dearth of opportunities, but they have to filter things. Unlike people like me, who have a dearth of opportunities at the first place, forget about filtering the offers. That's the difference.

“But it doesn't make things easy for them because they have a name to live up to and people to answer to. I don't have that baggage.”

Directed by Anurag Kashyap, ‘Manmarziyaan’ is written by Kanika Dhillon and also features Vicky Kaushal. The Aanand L Rai backed romantic-comedy-drama is scheduled to release on September 14.