Bhumi Pednekar is an Indian film actress. She has signed three film deal with the Yash Raj Films as an actress and made her film debut with a leading lady in the 2015 romantic comedy movie “Dum Laga Ke Haisha”. She even won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. Currently, Bhumi is featuring in two movies “Toilet: Ek Prem Katha” and “Shubh Mangal Saavdhan”
Bhumi says that being Mumbai girl she is very well-versed with the reality of social issues, be it gender equality or open defecation. Her upcoming movie “Toilet: Ek Prem Katha” deals with the issue of open defecation when asked if she ever faced such situation in her life? On this Bhumi replied, “No, I am an urban girl, born and brought up here in Mumbai and never faced such things. However, I come from a family where my parents are not just busy in the daily chaos of life, but also read newspapers and are well aware of the reality in our society. Therefore, though I am urban, never lived in a bubble.”
Bhumi says that she understands the situation further after coming on board for the film. Bhumi says, “Like many commoners, even I used to think that may be our government is not doing enough. What I did not understand is it is a taboo and a mindset that is stopping people to use those public toilets made by the government.”She added, “In this film, I felt connected with the character Jaya as a woman. Imagine a girl who came to live in a house after marriage where she has to control her toilet urge for 14 hours and then only can go before sunrise and after sunset. During her open defecation, she has to be conscious as there’s insecurity in the dark, she might get raped. How she must have gone through especially during her menstruation days.”
Bhumi’s character as Jaya represents many women of the country who are facing the problem every single day. Bhumi said, “There comes the director. See, I am an emotional person and since I was emotionally connected to my character, ill performing it was bound to happen. But our director (Shree Narayan Singh) had a strong vision and whenever I got carried away, he showed me the way. She added, “As an actor, I believe making a cinema is a collaborative effort and if critics appreciate my performance, I do not take full credit of that because I am a director’s actor,” said Bhumi, who was seen in “Dum Laga Ke Haisha”.
“Toilet: Ek Prem Katha” is releasing on August 11.