Bhumi Pednekar recently revealed that she always wanted to play the role of a woman who is an authentic representation of Indian society and leaves a message.
With the growing need for feminism, Bollywood has also stepped up in the past few years and attempted to bring a strong and feminist portal of women characters through cinema. While the producers are trying to show a script that can bring societal change, there are few actresses who actually want to take part in the journey.
Movies that focus on societal issues had always faced heavy criticism in the past by the ‘we-don’t-care-about-real-problems’ army of trollers. In between the chaos, it kind of becomes a huge risk for a celebrity to work in these films that can trigger a community, which ultimately brings loss to the entire production team.
So, those who actually put their careers at risk and play those empowering roles are worth being acknowledged. One of them is actor Bhumi Pednekar who enjoys playing such roles.
Bhumi Pednekar kicked off her Bollywood career with the movie “Dum Laga Ke Haisha” which spread the word to accept women the way they are. During the movie, Bhumi played the role of a fat woman who was not loved by her husband because of the mere fact that SHE IS OVER-WEIGHT. Though, her husband eventually realizes her love and accepts her as his wife.
In “Pati Patni Aur vo”, Bhumi played a wise woman who taught a lesson to her husband who was shamelessly cheating on her and made him understand her value. In “Toilet- Ek Prem Katha”, Jaya was the character she played in the movie who refused to stay in her in-law’s house because there was no toilet. Her character ended up raising the issue of sanitation facilities for women in villages. In brief, she prefers scripts that show the vulnerability and actual state of women and arouse questions in the mind of the audience.
In a recent interview, she said – “I firmly believe it is my duty to pick scripts that portray women in a dignified and real manner. I’m glad to have taken on such characters due to the great scripts I’ve received. I’m thankful for the many opportunities I’ve been given to play characters of women who stand up for themselves and society. Maybe that’s why people connected with my characters, too, because I connected deeply with them”.
People always look up to Bollywood to uplift their living style or to get inspiration. Therefore, it eventually becomes the duty of Bollywood to showcase the image of women in a respectable and real manner. No woman wants to see a character who objectifies the gender and casts it as some inferior, weaker sex. It felt right when some Bollywood celebrities came out of the dilemma that people only wanted to see toxic rom-coms and work with the movies that can inspire women.
Bhumika is an English Majors undergraduate at the University Of Delhi and at this moment actively working with an NGO, as a content department associate that works for normalizing menstruation and promotes menstrual hygiene. She read more...
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