BHUMI PEDNEKAR: WE WILL BOUNCE BACK
T he post-pandemic entertainment scene is a different one, notes Bhumi Pednekar. And the actor believes a lot of adjustments and changes are going to be made in the future, especially with the surge of the OTTs.
“Our fraternity is such that we adjust with the changing times really well. Our narrative is changing. Our stories are changing. OTT is a sister platform for us, and it is never going to be either cinemas or OTTs. Both will co-exist with a lot of love. I would hate to be home and watch everything on TV. We love to go to cinemas, and I am sure we will bounce back. But having said that, I really enjoy the content that our web platforms have given us during the pandemic, and I am thankful for that,” shares Pednekar.
The 32-year-old, whose film Durgamati released on an OTT platform last year, feels that we are going to see some breakthrough content in the coming years. “That’s because our audience is exposed to such content already. It is not just what we (Indian content creators) have done, but also internationally, the things that the audience has seen in that past two years. Filmmakers are going to recalibrate and actors are going to rethink the way they perform. People want newer stories and newer narratives, and I am very excited to be a working actor during this time,” she says.
Not just the content, shoot life has also gone through changes owing to the pandemic. And Pednekar, who recently shot for Raksha Bandhan, says she is also trying to adjust.
“The hours have reduced... but we work equally hard. You see people sanitising and washing hands all the time, and thank God for that, because there has been so much loss of livelihood. I wouldn’t say that too much has changed because, at the end of the day, when you get into the zone, you are really into it, despite the masks and all the Covid-19 protocols,” adds the actor.
Pednekar admits that while on set, one gets so engrossed in the work that the ongoing pandemic and the threats associated with it are not on anyone’s mind really.
“It slips your mind... This is what our job requires of us to be out there, there isn’t much we can do. The only good thing is that on all film sets, if someone is not feeling well (health wise), we feel responsible to let the people around us know. We have to survive, and all of us in our own way are trying to do that,” she concludes.