Her first name refers to ‘earth’ and Bhumi Pednekar is nothing but earthy. From her very first film, Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015), she has never chased either vacuous characters or the box-office mindlessly. Her short, but illustrious resume, includes Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, Saand Ki Aankh and Bala.
In a little over five years, she has commanded huge respect and she has seen commercial success and starry recognition almost like a by-product of her sensibilities and acting skills. She now plays the wife in Pati Patni Aur Woh — a sassy, spot-on woman of our times, who has to face a threat to her marriage from another girl. “Vedika’s very different from my other roles. She’s confident and ambitious, and just wants a better lifestyle. So she’s the kind who encourages her husband to do better. She is a teacher, and because of that, her approach to life is very matter-of-fact. At the same time, she has so much adaa (style and spunk) that if she ever stood at Lucknow’s traffic signal, there would be a traffic jam. And she’s well-aware of that effect on the opposite sex.”
For this role, Bhumi had to cut her hair to look different, and she thanks make-up whiz Preetisheel Singh for her distinctive looks both in this film and in Bala, in which she played a spirited dark-skinned lawyer. “She made me look so different. She worked around my features and enhanced my characters.”
Both these films came after Saand Ki Aankh, which won critical acclaim and in which she played a grandmother to perfection, and Sonchiriya, both rural dramas. She smiles and says, “Yes, 2019 has been a very busy, but career-defining year for me. I have cemented my position and I am grateful to the audience and my filmmakers, but have really not had the time to sit and think about it all. And by now, I have played grandmother, mother, sister and maid and I have to thank the audience for it.”
Would she like to do a typical glamorous heroine’s role at any time? “Why would I not?” she counters. “I have grown up on the naach-gaana from everyone like Madhuri Dixit, Karisma Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. I would love to do a mass commercial film, but never a pointless role. I even love brainless comedy, which is actually very tough to do — it’s difficult to make the audience laugh, very easy to make them cry — but what you will never catch me doing is stereotypical stuff. There have been huge hits that I have refused, because I must have conviction in my character. Characters never die.”
“In fact,” she goes on. “Pati Patni Aur Woh breaks stereotypes. I am not the typical bogged-down wife, and the woh is also not the scheming kind of woman. In the last 10 years, Hindi films have come a long way, and I am happy that my films have been an important part of the progression. We touched taboos in films like Toilet and Shubh Mangal… and if any role does not deviate from my moral
compass I will do it, like in my segment of Lust Stories (Bhumi’s web debut).”
She points out that the audience has loved fantasies for decades, and now we are appreciating relatable stories. “Look at Ayushmann Khurrana’s success. Look at the protagonists of such films and the viewer thinks, ‘If he is a hero or she is a heroine, so am I.’ Today, we can celebrate our flaws like erectile dysfunction, obesity or premature hair loss.” Bhumi wants to “die on a film set” and is thrilled that the films that are coming to her indicate filmmakers’ faith in her. “That’s a very big deal,” she says. “They are putting their money on me, with the hope that I can draw in audiences. By now, most of my wish-list filmmakers have either done films with me or have reached out. Clearly, they see a lot more gravitas in me. I have done so
many films in the last one year, and a web series, and I have played all ages from 20 to 70 in them.”
A prize film to come is Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare, a comedy on two women friends. Bhumi also has Karan Johar’s ambitious historical Takht and she has just signed Durgavati, projected as a “scary thriller” presented by Akshay Kumar, her Toilet hero. To return to her latest release, would she like to do a sequel if Pati… works? “I would love to,” she grins. “Actually, in the sequel, why should I not be the wife who strays? I would love Ayushmann as the woh in it,” she quips.