Actress Bhumi Pednekar has done three Hindi films so far and all of these films had her playing a de-glam character. While she began by playing an over weight teacher in her debut film, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, she played a village girl and a small-town girl in her following films, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and Shubh Mangal Savdhaan, respectively. However, Bhumi doesn't think she would be typecast because of her choices. She says no amount of fear will let her resist the stories she wants to tell through her films.
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In an interview with a leading daily, Bhumi shared, "I don’t fear getting typecast anymore. I have a strong personality — I know who I’m outside my work and I’m nothing like the characters I portray. Then the audiences have also matured. My intention has always been to just do good work. I have realised what my pitch is and I’m in this industry for the pure reason that I love acting. I also love the frills that come with it — the clothes, red carpet appearances and having an impact on people. But I also love waking up and telling different stories and exploring different emotions".
The actress is currently raving the appreciations she has got for her performance in Netflix's original, Lust Stories. Bhumi has been directed by Zoya Akhtar for the series and she thinks of it as a big compliment. Talking about the same, she revealed that it meant a lot to her when she got to know that a nuanced director like Zoya Akhtar wanted to cast her, even when she had just done one film, DLKH. She elaborated, "When Zoya got in touch with me, it seemed like a great project because it was Bombay Talkies 2 then. But when I read the script, I was like, ‘How am I going to do this?’ When you have dialogues, it tells you a lot about the character and the world he or she comes from. If I’m just quiet, it will confuse people. I had to play a house help and feel the whole class divide. The film had so many layers".
One of the most talked about scenes from Lust Stories has the character of Bhumi making out with her male employer. The actress mentions that the particular scene was unnerving. She explained, "I have gone four shades darker, my face and hands were pigmented. This is the most amount of time I’ve taken to get ready for a film. Zoya has dirtied me right to my nails being chipped. This time, there was also the whole sex scene that unnerved me but Zoya is empowered, so she gave me the confidence to go ahead and do this. It was liberating working with her. She’s a boss lady".
Bhumi will next be seen in Sonchiriya, directed by Abhishek Chaubey.