How does one describe a Bollywood star? Beautiful, svelte, slim... Bhumi Pednekar is beautiful but she is a proud plus size. She has made her way into audience hearts with her splendid performance as Sandhya, the small-town girl from Haridwar in Dum Laga Ke Haisha .
Bhumi always wanted to direct a movie, and started as an assistant with casting director Shanoo Sharma. Even then, the actor in her would surface every time she read out lines or helped actors rehearse. “That's why I fell for it when Shanoo asked me to act out a part as a cue cut for someone auditioning for the role.” So impressed was Shanoo with Bhumi’s performance that she picked her over the real contenders.
“I did not have it easy. I had more rounds of audition before they actually chose me. Then, like a filmi story, on my birthday, I got a call from Shanoo, saying I had bagged it. It took a while for the words to sink in; I had not seen it coming.”
It wasn't difficult preparing for the role, she says. "I had to put on 15 kg and it did not bother me even though I was already on the heavy side.” Bhumi ate dal makhani and butter chicken for breakfast and dinner. “I am a very committed person. And be it any role, I will give my 100 per cent.”
All it took Bhumi was to believe that she was Sandhya in the movie that talks of looking beyond the trivialities in life to find true love.
“The three-film deal with Yash Raj will provide me the platform to live out my dream. My next two films will decide if I stay in the industry or not,” she says, characteristically bold till the end.
