When YRF launched Bhumi Pednekar, who knew the newbie would break stereotypes with her incredible performance as an overweight yet supremely confident girl, Sandhya, in Dum Laga Ke Haisha (DLKH). As she celebrates the seventh anniversary of the landmark cult classic today, which also marks her seven-year journey in Bollywood, Bhumi speaks to the Free Press Journal in an exclusive tête-à-tête.
An elated Bhumi shares, “Dum Laga Ke Haisha was a watershed moment of my career. Looking back, I was truly blessed to have this film as my debut because it is always tough to get a forward-thinking film that projects women in the correct light. It was making bold statements about body positivity. A film like this doesn’t get made every day, and I have to thank Maneesh Sharma, Sharat Katariya, Aditya Chopra and the entire team for trusting me with this beautiful role that has now become an example of how women should be portrayed in cinema.”
Bhumi believes in redefining feminism in cinema through her choice of films, and the success of DLKH enabled her to understand that people wanted to see women of substance on screen. “Dum Laga Ke Haisha was validating for me not just as an actor but also as a woman who was trying to redefine feminism through her work. I have always believed that I became an actor for a purpose. It was to be a part of great cinema and to play great women roles on screen that aimed at changing the narrative of how a girl is seen by society,” she explains.
A still from Dum Laga Ke Haisha |
Dum Laga Ke Haisha will always hold a special place in Bhumi’s heart. “Dum Laga Ke Haisha gave me the confidence to march forward with this ideal that I had in my head, and my body of work speaks for it today. It is the most special film of my life, and I owe everything to Dum Laga Ke Haisha because it told me that dreams do become destiny,” Bhumi concludes.
Bhumi, who was recently seen in Badhaai Do, has a slew of films ahead. They include Anubhav Sinha’s Bheed, Ajay Bahl’s The Ladykiller, Shashank Khaitan’s Govinda Naam Mera, the Akshay Kumar-starrer Raksha Bandhan, Sudhir Mishra’s Afwaah and Gauri Khan’s production Bhakshak.
