Mumbai, Feb 27 (IANS): Actress Taapsee Pannu, who is riding high on recent films such as "Badla", "Mission Mangal" and "Saand Ki Aankh", and is gearing up for "Thappad", first made an impact in Bollywood as the daredevil special agent in Neeraj Pandey's 2015 spy thriller, "Baby". That was a small role highlighted by a brilliant action sequence. Today, the actress has become one of the most prominent faces of heroine-centric, content-driven Hindi cinema.

Pandey is naturally proud to note Taapsee's rise. He says she achieved success based on her talent and right choices.

"Taapsee is talented. I also think her choices make her successful. The role she did in ‘Baby', especially the action sequence that we remember her for, is a result of hard work. In that film, she was given a small part but she delivered, and we saw the impact she created. That is why (the spin-off) ‘Naam Shabana' happened. I am glad that Taapsee is doing well. The entire credit goes to her," Pandey told IANS.

Starting her career as a commercial actress in south Indian films, Taapsee made her debut in Bollywood with David Dhawan's 2013 film "Chashme Baddoor". Her image as a heroine of content-driven cinema would only be cemented with Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury's 2016 film, "Pink".

This week, she returns with her most accomplished acting yet, in Anubhav Sinha's "Thappad". In the film, she plays a homemmaker whose picture-perfect life is jolted when her husband slaps her at a house party.

This is the second time she is collaborating with Anubhav Sinha after "Mulk".

Asked about what made the actress likeable by the audience, Anubhav said: "I think there is a great degree of honesty in her and that comes through when she performs the part. whether she is playing a rape victim-survivor in ‘Pink, a killer in ‘Badla' or playing a lawyer in ‘Mulk' and facing a strong performer like Ashutosh Rana, Taapsee performs with a lot of zeal, passion and that makes her likeable, the audience loves that."

"Thappad" releases on Friday in theatres.