Bollywood actress Taapsee Pannu, who will be next seen in Mulk alongside Rishi Kapoor, has turned a year older today (August 1). Taapsee surprised everyone with gutsy characters in content-driven films like Naam Shabana, Soorma, Pink under her belt. To top off that list was also her short film debut, Nitishastra that rocked and shocked audiences worldwide.

On her birthday, let’s look at 5 reasons why Taapsee Pannu has stood out and made her mark in such a short span of her career.

South Indian and Bollywood success: While a lot of actors come from one industry to another to try their luck, but Taapsee has seen success in both. She has built a name for herself in Telugu and Tamil cinema and Bollywood too. The actress has worked with the bigwigs of all industries and dubs her own lines no matter which language.

The roles she chooses: In over 5 years the actress has played a spy, a hockey player, a small town Punjabi Kudi, a victim who fights for her rights, a lawyer who fights for a community that is repeatedly targeted, a visually challenged girl and a martial arts instructor. In between all of this she also played a stereotypical Bollywood heroine as well in Judwaa.

No Godfather:  A lot of people sometimes need help to get by, especially in the entertainment industry. They use political connections, family connections and business associations to get ahead. But Taapsee hasn’t taken that route; she began with no godfather and continues to rule the cinemas solely on her talent, hard work and skill.

Rocking at South film industry: Her film Neevevaro is slated for release soon. She will soon begin working on another project in Tamil. In the last three years, she has managed to do 6 south films while shooting for 10 Bollywood flicks.

 ‘Never give up’ attitude: Taapsee has had an uphill climb to get where she has gotten. But even with a gap of a year and a half between Chashme Badoor and Baby, the actress refused to give up hope and kept at it. Her hard work showed with back-to-back films like Baby, Pink, Ghazi Attack, Naam Shabana, Judwaa 2 — all becoming successes.