I AM SCARED OF PEOPLE SHI**ING ON MY WORK
Actor Bhumi Pednekar says how a film fares at the box office is not in her hands, but her performance definitely is
At 30, and with just seven films to her credit so far, Bhumi Pednekar has not only earned accolades for her performances but also surprised everyone with her daring choices with each film.
Whether it was playing an overweight girl in Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015), a 65-year-old woman in Saand Ki Aankh, and going three-shades darker in Bala (both this year), Bhumi aspires to break the mould of a quintessential Bollywood heroine and clearly, doesn’t fear experimenting with the craft by trying out unconventional roles.
“I aspire to break the norms that the industry has made as to what a typical hero or a heroine is supposed to look like. I want to break that mould and it is happening with one film after the other,” Bhumi continues, “When playing unconventional roles, the most challenging thing is to get into the psyche of the character. Being a strong, independent girl, it’s not easy to step into the shoes of someone who has been submissive all their life and never had an opinion.”
And that’s not all. The actor, who by her own admission, puts her heart and soul into her performances, shares the one thing that frightens her. “The biggest thing I get scared about is that someday, somebody is going to sh*t on my work or my performance because it couldn’t do well at the box office. How a film fares is not in my hands, but how I fare is definitely in my hands. And that’s why, I always try my best and remain focused,” says Bhumi whose recent release, Pati Patni Aur Woh alongside Kartik Aaryan and Ananya Panday, is hitting the right spots at the box office.
Amidst all this, Bhumi certainly has not forgotten the toughest phase of her career. She shares, “I remember when I was shooting for Sonchiriya; it was very close to my heart and it still is because I really feel that it’s pure cinema. Director Abhishek Chaubey is a genius and even my co-stars — Sushant Singh Rajput, Manoj Bajpayee, Ranvir Shorey and others worked with a lot of passion. I didn’t take up anything for eight months while working on that film, and the fact that it didn’t get much love commercially, was a little heartbreaking.”
However, Bhumi is quick to add that the critical appreciation that came her way was the silver lining through that whole experience. “That was definitely a little tough phase. I feel everything that I have done has got me out of my comfort zone and I aspire to do the same in the future,” she says.