'Naam Shabana' is spin-off, not prequel to 'Baby': Taapsee Pannu

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Mar. 15 (ANI): Basking in glory of the success of her last releases, Taapsee Pannu now awaits her upcoming flick 'Naam Shabana' to hit the big screens. Speaking about nation's first ever spin-off, Taapsee told ANI, "We'll see a spin-off for the first time in India. It's not called a prequel because then Akshay would have played the central character. This film is a spin off as a central character is picked up from an ensemble cast, whose back story is explained then." "'Naam Shabana' is 'Baby's spin-off where the focus is on my character and how she becomes a spy," she said. The 29-year-old star also spoke about taking up martial arts lessons for portraying her character, "There's going to be different type of action in the film. Every action scene is different from the other. I learnt Kudo, MMA, Krav Maga for the film and everything has been utilized for the sequences." "I did a lot of preparation for the role. But what we have used is just 40 percent of that. Doing action is extremely exhausting. But since I was prepared for the worst, I didn't feel that exhausted," said the 'PINK' star. On a related note, produced by Friday Filmworks, the Shivam Nair-directorial also stars Akshay Kumar in a special appearance. "Akshay is extremely funny and his straight face humour is just out of the world. One thing I have learnt from him is that we should keep on working," she said, while sharing her working experience with 'Khiladi' Kumar. 'Naam Shabana' is set to release on March 31. (ANI)