Bhumi Pednekar on inclusivity: Sexual preference cannot command the work that you do – Exclusive – Times of India

With just about a week to go for Junglee Pictures’ ‘Badhaai Do’ to hit the silver screens, actress Bhumi Pednekar, who is having a theatrical release after almost two years, is both nervous and excited. In an exclusive conversation with ETimes, Bhumi says she is happy to have a theatrical release (after the lockdown), starting with ‘Badhaai Do’. “It’s such a special film, and it’s an important film for my career. I am full of gratitude that the script came my way,” she says.

‘Badhaai Do’ is a spiritual sequel to Junglee Pictures’ ‘Badhaai Ho’ from 2018. Featuring Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar in unique roles, the film depicts a marriage of convenience. The story is packed with elements of love, romance, comedy and offers a totally fresh perspective on the LGBTQI community with a promise to be equally fun and thought provoking. Which is what prompted Bhumi to latch onto the film.

When asked what about the film appealed to her the most, Bhumi says, “It definitely has to be the script. I was completely blown away by what I had heard. There were many stories about LGBTQI community that had come in the past, but there was nothing that was so pitch-perfect. Yes, it is a comedy, yes the film is about breaking stereotypes. But there is nothing that happens at the cost of the character. The film is written very sensitively. It makes you laugh, it makes you cry. You’ll have a smile on your face through and through. You question so many things that you were forced to believe in. There are so many things that the society taught you that this is the only way of living. There are so many times that you laugh in the film, but you feel like, ‘Oh why am I laughing at this? Should I be laughing at this?’ We normalise so many things that shouldn’t be normalised because of years of social convention and this film challenges those things. I loved the way both the characters were written. I loved the way that they were just treated as two regular human beings who are finding love, who are survivors, who will do what it takes to lead the lives that they want. To lead the life of freedom which they do not have. And the sexual identity or the sexual preference is not the only thing about them. For me that was beautiful. That’s why I just latched on to the film.”

Bhumi and Rajkummar play Suman and Shardul – a couple in a lavender marriage. However, Bhumi disagrees the film is just about lavender marriage. “Yes, it is something that happens with both the characters in the film, but that’s not what the film is about. The film is about two characters that are finding their way out of the suppression and oppression that they’ve lived. There isn’t just one right way of doing it. Yes, you come out of the closet, but the closet becomes bigger, and you’re still in it. Because the society is such a tough place to create a space for yourself and everybody’s life isn’t the same. It is way tougher for somebody in a tier 2 or tier 3 to be that much on the front foot. It is also looking at it from a very privileged lens where you feel like it is easy for people to accept who they are. That’s how it should be in an idealistic world. For somebody to reach there is their own journey. And that’s the journey that we’re showing in the film. The journey of two individuals- Shardul and Sumi. At no point are we celebrating a lavender marriage, at no point are we questioning a lavender marriage. That is for the audiences to decide,” she explains.

Having had a series of offbeat projects in her filmography that allowed her to play diverse characters, Bhumi feels she has been fortunate. Suman in ‘Badhaai Do’ is a very layered character that is definitely up there with Sandhya in ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’, she tells us. “Playing Sumi was very close to my first film’s experience. And my first film will always be very special to me. But ‘Badhaai Do’ is right up there sharing that platform with ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’. That’s how vulnerable, that’s how strong, that’s how beautifully written Suman is and so is the script. She is so different from me and yet there are so many things that I connect with her on. She’s vulnerable, she’s brave. She is fearful at times, she is coward at times. Yet she finds her footing and that’s exactly how human beings are! Everybody’s not born with ultrasonic amount of courage. You find your courage through life experiences. It’s such a beautifully written part. It’s so complex and so layered. There’s so much that she says without saying it. I just loved playing this character,” says Bhumi.

Model turned actress Chum Darang plays the role of Bhumi’s girlfriend in the film. Bhumi shares their chemistry in the film is nothing less than phenomenal. “I remember the first day when Chum and I worked together. I was amazed at how confident an actor she is. It is some of her very new work, she’s not been in front of the camera as much. Yet the confidence with which she worked, I feel like our chemistry in the film is phenomenal. Our love story in the film is so sweet, you’ll not feel like ‘oh, this is a same sex couple’. It will not matter as these are just two human beings that are in love. I could have only had this chemistry if my co-actor believed in the script and in their character. Chum is so refreshing, and a very gifted actor. I am glad that we found her and the way things have panned out, I am sure she’s going to have a lot of supporters after ‘Badhaai Do’,” she adds.

Filmmaker Onir recently praised the film saying at least someone in uniform can be shown as homosexual. His film ‘We Are’ got denied an NOC by the Defence Ministry because it shows an army man as gay. Talking about inclusivity, Bhumi says, “In ‘Badhaai Do’, Raj is playing somebody who is a part of the police forces. His character has not drawn any kind of objection. I feel your sexual preference cannot command the work that you do. These are completely different – that is personal, this is a professional life. I feel like there can definitely be homosexual people in the police forces. And this is the reality. How else do you normalise something?”

Bhumi’s debut film was another off beat subject that starred Ayushmann Khurrana as the male lead. Ayushmann also headlined the previous film ‘Badhaai Ho’ in the Badhaai franchise. Asked if having him in ‘Badhaai Do’ too would have been a coup, Bhumi paused and pondered before saying, “Ayushmann is a very good friend of mine. But I feel like Raj and I are on fire in ‘Badhaai Do’. It’s the first time we’re working together. I wish I had worked with him earlier because we have become such good friends. He’s such a phenomenal co-actor, so brilliant in the film. I am actually his fan now. I had always loved his work but after having worked with him, the sincerity and the brilliance that he brings to a character is something that I am so inspired by. Having said that, I genuinely miss working with Ayushmann. We’ve not collaborated since our last outing together and I can’t wait to work with him again.”

Wrapping up the conversation, Bhumi hopes their film ‘Badhaai Do’ makes people learn that love is love. “We as a society need to normalise things, we need to respect one’s choices. We need to respect the way a person is born. And we need to start loving each other for who we are, not try and fit everybody in one bracket. I really hope, once ‘Badhaai Do’ hits the screens, the audiences become more accepting of each other. It’s not fair to command somebody else’s life. It is not fair to make others live in such high levels of suppression. The film’s going to make us question a lot of choices that we’ve made,” she signs off.