Mumbai: Actor Bhumi Pednekar believes her journey in movies has been ‘different’ right from the outset, as usual and ordinary characters do not excite her.
The 30-year-old Bhumi Pednekar made her debut with Dum Laga Ke Haisha, which featured her as an overweight newly-married woman, and went on to play a progressive parts in Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and Shubh Mangal Savdhan. Her last big screen outing was as a feisty woman in Sonchiriya.
Her upcoming film Saand Ki Aankh will feature Bhumi as one of world’s oldest sharpshooters Chandro Tomar.
“It takes a lot to be secure. It is not easy when you see yourself as a 70- year-old. It is an actor’s dream to do a film like Saand Ki Aankh. It has comedy but it is not easy to do. In Bala I am playing a deep coloured girl, my character is commenting on the societal bias that is still very prevalent in India on colour,” Bhumi Pednekar stated.
“I feel as an actor, the kind of satisfaction I get by not being Bhumi on-screen is something else. I can proudly say this that both are very different, they are not the same people. I love the fact that I can challenge myself and through my work, I can change the way people think. I am not doing ordinary things,” added Bhumi.
The actor said a lot of people warned her against taking up unconventional characters.
“There are people who questioned my choices as an actor. A lot of people told me why I am doing Saand Ki Aankh, why I am playing a 70- year-old and why I am doing earthy or rural films. I don’t see films as earthy or rural or how my look is in the film. I look at the story. People are seeing the story, my character and not Bhumi, on the big screen,” asserted Bhumi.
All of Bhumi’s films have done commercially well except Sonchiriya and she said one can’t predict the fate of a film.
“You can’t predict what the audience likes. Every film that I do is because I feel for it. My instinct tells me I need to be part of this woman’s journey, I need to tell this story,” she pointed out.
‘Sonchiriya did not do well commercially but the amount of love the film got was tremendous so it did not feel like a failure to me. It was very heartbreaking that it was not making the numbers. It is not a film that will attract eyeballs easily,” added Bhumi.
The actor added that the experience with ‘Sonchiriya’ taught her to stay disconnected from both success and failure.
“I have learnt this after Sonchiriya that if you have put your heart and soul into it, you need to disconnect with the success and failure of the film because that is the only way you can survive. If I take the pressure that all my films have done well and if any of my films don’t, then I won’t be able to survive,” asserted Bhumi Pednekar.
Bhumi also has films like Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare, Bala and Pati, Patni Aur Woh releasing this year. Year 2020 will see her cast in Karan Johar’s magnum opus Takht and Bhoot – Part One: The Haunted Ship with Vicky Kaushal.
“I don’t have any planned ideas about my career… about the number of films releasing every year. I want to keep doing good work. I am a workaholic,” Bhumi signed off.
PNN & Agencies