Bhumi Pednekar: I Represent The Neglected  70 Percent

It took a  Bhumi Pednekar to make us realize that more than 70 percent of India lives in rural, semi-rural areas and  in the smaller cities.

Her films so far have represented the aspirations of the non-metropolitan woman egged on by ambitions that may seem laughable to the urban woman.

Taking a deep breath Bhumi says, “I didn’t consciously work towards occupying that space . But it just happened, first in Dum Lagake Haisha , then Toilet : Ek Prem Katha and now Shubh Mangal Saavdhan. It’s  not as if I don’t want to play the sophisticated metropolitan  girl. But I am very happy to  be representing the aspirations of  70 percent of the Indian population that lives outside metropolitan India.”

Cannily, Bhumi sees her films on small-town aspirations coinciding with a wave of nationalism in the country. “I think there was a scarcity  of  films that spoke on behalf of the smalltown Indians. The three films that I’ve  done so far address themselves to that section.And we ‘ve spoken on serious social issues that are normally not spoken about in our films.Toilet Ek Prem Katha  was  about rural homes going without toilets and how this affects the womenfolk.And now in Shubh Mangal Saavdhan we’ve addressed a sex-related problem regarding the male. And that’s unusual.Normally women are seen to have problems of this nature while men it is presumed are immune to all sex maladies.Hats off to Ayushmann for  doing a role that goes against the prescribed definitions of a film hero.”

For her first  film  Dum Lagake Haisha Bhumi had to gain a whopping 27 kgs.  She says she never thought of turning away from  the challenge. “There I was, a girl with no Bollywood connections getting to do a Yash Raj film. To me Yash Raj was the  ultimate.Not  for a minute did I hesitate  in saying yes. I thought about the challenge of putting on  the extra  kilos after saying yes.”

Butter chicken did it for Bhumi.  “I constantly ate to maintain my heavier  girth in Dum Lagake Haisha.I don’t think I ever want see butter chicken again.”

And then Bhumi lost it all. “I  went back to being  of normal weight. In Toilet Ek Prem Katha it was like being launched as a newcomer. Audiences found it hard to connect  the plump girl in Dum Lagake Haisha  with the slimmer girl in Toilet Ek Prem Katha.”

Bhumi  is  proud  that her three films so far have been with relatively  new directors. “Dum Lagake Haisha was  director Sharat Katariya’s debut and  mine. Before Toilet Ek Prem Katha my director Shree Narayan Singh had done  another film. But even for him it was re-launch.And  now in Shubha Mangal Saavdhan I was directed by R S Prassanna who makes his Hindi debut . Prassanna, incidentally is the first director nearly my age. I didn’t have to call him ‘Sir’.”

Does Bhumi crave  to play the typical high-heeled pouty diva?

Laughs  the earthy woman, “I can carry off the high heels and the pout very well,thanks. But at this  moment I’m happy with what I am getting, and doing. It’s a space I don’t see anyone else occupying. You will see me in a completely different avatar in Zoya Akhtar’s short film.My first with a female director, it was really liberating.”