Beyond THE NOISE

Bhumi Satish Pednekar on reinvention, resilience and returning to the girl she was before the world knew her name

- SHWETA SUNNY

Call it the Cancerian aura or an actor who knows exactly what she brings to the table, Bhumi Satish Pednekar knows who she is and is unapologetic about it.

As we await her arrival on set on a blistering afternoon in May, she walks in wearing a loungewear set in sun-faded neutrals, offset with a beaded rudraksh necklace. It’s clear she sticks to the script off-screen too. Earlier during our conversation, Pednekar had mentioned how spirituality was everything for her and how she wished she had discovered faith earlier in life.

For an actor whose career has been built on transformation, it isn’t surprising to see how quickly she shapeshifts into an enigmatic energy the moment she steps out for the first look. Dressed in a risqué black cropped jacket and Bermuda shorts, she slips effortlessly into our story of sexy summer blacks. As someone whose career trajectory has seen her inhabit varied characters and colours, Pednekar pulls off the hue, without any reservations.

Known for her unconventional choices from the very beginning, we revisit her debut film Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015), which earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. Reflecting on the film, she says, “My first film did not have a lot to do with me, but what the universe had planned for me because I did not go chasing it. Like any other girl debuting in the industry, I wanted a conventional role because I wasn’t sure if a film like that would be accepted the way it was accepted. I got lucky that this came my way, and I don’t think there were a lot of girls in my position that were ready to go through that transformation.”

The role required a dramatic physical transformation, but for Pednekar, the experience became deeply emotional too. “There was a lot of learning about who I am because I had to become a different human being for that character, not just physically but emotionally,” she says.