MADE OF HONOUR

Bhumi Pednekar is a force to reckon with in the industry today. Churning out one commercial success after another, her films have her playing powerful characters who challenge mindsets and more

After a long night of passionate love- making ( thrice, as the conversation the morning after reveals), new bride Jaya ( Bhumi Pednekar, 28) and her mustachioed husband Keshav Sharma ( Akshay Kumar) are roused, from what is understandably blissful slumber, with incessant knocking on their bedroom window. Turns out, the lota party ( a group of women from the village who follow the century old tradition of taking to the bushes every morning at 4 am to defecate for lack of toilets at home) is ready to welcome Jaya to their tribe. She reluctantly stumbles along, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes but never losing the frown on her face. And finally, as if suddenly snapping out of a deep sleep, Jaya storms off, refusing to follow an oppressive and harmful practice.

This is perhaps the turning point of Shree Narayan Singh’s Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, 2017, but also a fitting metaphor for Pednekar’s short but effective stint in the industry. Only three films old, she is flushing stereotypes and conventions down the toilet and is almost assertively part of an age of Indian cinema, which is both commercially viable and socially relevant. Few leading ladies, for example, can tell you how they gained close to 25 kg for their first film ( even fewer in an industry that thrives on objectification would be asked to)— as Pednekar did for Dum Laga Ke Haisha, 2015— which combats fat shaming and attempts to undo years of

conditioning to celebrate the thick woman. Her second film Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, 2017, talks about erectile dysfunction.

YOUNG AND RESTLESS

Inspired by her mother, Sumitra Pednekar, who is spearheading a campaign against tobacco through a PIL against government and stateowned insurance companies for holding stakes in tobacco- related businesses, Pednekar has always been a “rebel with a cause”. She recalls her days in school at Arya Vidya Mandir in Juhu. “I was rebellious but I was always a rebel with a cause. In school, I would always stand up for everything. If there was a natural calamity, I would go for road shows collecting funds.” “I’ve always been opinionated and I don’t think that goes down very well with people. I’ve always voiced my thoughts and I continue to do so,” she says. Growing up in Versova, confident and liberated in what she describes as a progressive family, the Pednekar sisters were forced to watch the news for an hour every day. “We were the kids who knew everything about the political system, when people didn’t even know who the President was,” she says. “I was always told marriage and all that is secondary, it’s always your career first and it’s knowledge from different sectors, not just your school,” adds the actor. Out of choice, she would be part of theatre and elocution events at school, go through a rap- like- Eminem phase, concoct love stories in her head with a senior across from her classroom whose eyes once met hers, steal Mills & Boon editions from her aunt and impatiently wait for every new Harry Potter book.

But when it came to films, she consumed a mixed bag. “The audience in my house is always very selective. Most of the films we watched growing up were sensible films, be it a Casablanca, Hitchcock films, Satyajit

Ray, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, we saw them all,” she says. “But at the same time, I would watch Coolie No. 1, Biwi No. 1, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil To Pagal Hai.” The two she claims almost propelled her towards the movie industry were Rang De Basanti and Omkara.

So, after getting expelled from Whistling Woods due to poor attendance ( something she isn’t particularly proud of, but quickly made up for), a 17- year- old Pednekar bagged her first job with Yash Raj Films ( YRF) as a casting assistant with a starting salary of ` 9,000. “I knew I couldn’t take this for granted and once I got into it, I realised I loved it so much. Especially casting— I got to do a little bit of directing and acting,” she says. “I did all kinds of odd jobs for YRF; I cast for them, I assisted, I’ve written. It was my film school. And then Dum Laga Ke Haisha happened and life changed.”

BODY OF WORK

Five years into this job, Pednekar was pleasantly surprised when head of casting at YRF Shanoo Sharma fired her since she would be cast in the Bollywood behemoth’s next. The process of gaining weight for Dum Laga Ke Haisha was equal parts liberating and difficult. “I couldn’t tell anybody I was doing this for a film because it’s all very confidential till it’s out,” she says. “And everyone was wondering what the f** k is going on. People would ask me, ‘ Are you depressed?’ or go up to my mum and ask her if everything was all right with Bhumi.” But the ever buoyant actor continued to love and respect her body regardless of its fluctuating size. “I am a very strong person. After watching the film, nobody could fat shame me because they would feel ashamed of doing it themselves. That was a great aspect of the film,” she says. “The kind of male attention I got back then was incredible,” she laughs.

Her weight loss journey was not only inspiring, but all natural and eventually a social media campaign with the hashtag # Lose It Like Bhumi, which she posted after several followers messaged her regarding their own body image issues. “So many people messaged or got in touch writing about their weight issues and the complexes they have to deal with because of their weight,” she says. “I decided to share that journey. I’ve done it naturally and I’m proud of it. I know I have a healthy body today, it may not be a 36- 24- 36 Colombian model body, but it’s okay. I love it. I feel very good about myself.”

So Pednekar, known to battle stereotypes in film didn’t allow herself to be typecast outside of them. After absorbing and reeling from the high of her first release ( It took me eight or nine times to understand the film. Every time I see it, I’m like ‘ WOW, oh WOW!’’), she shed the weight and quickly bagged her second film. The beauty of her body of work is that she can closely relate to her characters and all her films have exposed her to a world she had otherwise been sheltered from. “I lived in a world where everything was perfect and everything was accepted, everything was appreciated. But the big world isn’t like this.”

Whether it’s the forthright Jaya Sharma or the demure- butdurable Sandhya Prem Tiwari, her on- screen personas have been fairly liberated sexually. “I think I completely relate to all these girls. I’m strong, I’m an individual, and I’m independent as a person. And my all characters have had that,” says Pednekar. “Even if they are suppressed, they break through those chains and shine. They own what they do, they believe in themselves, and they can survive alone.”

FUTURE PERFECT

The actor who will now star in Abhishek Chaubey’s Chambal and is working on Zoya Akhtar’s forthcoming short film, is both idealistic and hopeful about what life on- screen and off- screen will look like. “As a business, we need to change a lot in the way we think. It’s time we stop objectifying women. As I’ve become an actor and I’ve become part of the main crux of the films, I realise there’s a lot of sexism. There are a lot of regressive thoughts and emotions that need to be broken,” she says. A proud feminist, she doesn’t know whether the traditionalist in her would one day want a court marriage and a small get together at home or a dream destination wedding in the Palace of Versailles, but she does know this: “I hope when my life concludes, I feel like I’ve been a humanitarian. I hope I flourish and the eco- system around me flourishes with me.”