Bhumi Pednekar: I like to keep challenging myself as my audience expects that from me

This has been a rather interesting year for Bhumi Pednekar. From doing two horror films and a slice of life movie, the actor showed variety in her choices. She says she likes to spice up her filmography because she thinks her fans also want that from her.

“It comes with a lot of responsibility, a responsibility towards the audiences. The idea is to keep reinventing, keep trying and challenging myself while doing things outside of the box. That’s more for a personal growth, plus that’s also something expected out of me from the audience. I also want to keep entertaining my fan base and keep increasing it,” shares Pednekar.

The 31-year-old, who starred in films Bhoot- Part One: The Haunted Ship, Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare and Durgamati this year, adds, “I want good stories to reach out the audience. I am glad that they associate good content with me because that means that I must have done something right.”

 

But does that level of expectation tend to create a pressure for her when she selects her projects?

Pednekar says, “No, I’m just reacting to the story and the characters that come my way. I don’t believe in the length of role of whether it will be a commercial hit… these are stories I really want to do. I don’t have a set formula and a way of choosing my films; it is just about if I like it, I do it.”

Right from her first film, Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015), the word unconventional was attached to her. And the actor is looking forward to delivering more on that front.

“I feel that our narratives have changed and the audiences want newer things. They have great exposure to great content over the last few years especially because of global content. I feel that the expectation that the audience has from us are very different today and the fact that I can fulfill them makes me feel proud. I am happy that my films have been a part of this change that has happened,” she opines.

 

This year, two of her films which were originally meant for theatrical releases, made their way to OTT platforms and Pednekar is happy about this route that the entertainment industry had to take due to the pandemic.

“I am actually a fan of the (web) platform. As an actor, I am very a greedy person. I get a chance to reach so many countries and I get to tap into an audience market where my films would not have reached otherwise. There are so many languages that the film gets subtitled in and it releases globally at the same time and across various countries. Our audience habit has changed. But having said that I completely agree theatres and OTTs can coexist happily,” she concludes.