'I still fight with my sister.'
'I still get scolded by my mom.'
'I still travel by autos sometimes.'
'I still have my regular pani puriwala.'
Ronjita Kulkarni/ Rediff.com comes away impressed with Bhumi Pednekar.
Photograph: Bhumi Pednekar/Instagram
"I am living my dream," Bhumi Pednekar says confidently, as she sits across me at Yash Raj Studios in Andheri, north west Mumbai.
"I knew I would get a film and that my life would pan out this way. I knew it. And I'm living it now," she adds.
The young actress has won awards for her performance in Dum Laga Ke Haisha, and she knows she's very good at her work.
Yet, the Mumbai girl remains completely modest.
She greets me with a hug, calls me "Ma'am" throughout the interview, and even lets her lunch grow cold as she finishes our conversation first.
'At 16, I knew if I didn't get into this field *now*, I would be shipped off abroad. And I couldn't have survived that'
IMAGE: Bhumi with Shanoo Sharma. Photograph: Bhumi Pednekar/Instagram
Bhumi's dream of becoming an actress started when she was 12 years old.
"At 16, I reached a point when I knew that if I didn't get into this field *now*, I would be shipped off abroad to pursue my studies. And I couldn't have survived that," she says animatedly.
Despite their concerns, her parents supported her.
"I told my mother I wanted to be an actress and the next thing I know is that I'm studying in a very expensive film school. My dad was so protective that he never let me enter the kitchen because he thought something would happen, but he agreed as well," Bhumi recalls.
So Bhumi went to Subhash Ghai's acting school Whistling Woods for a year.
"At 16, I don't know if I grasped anything because I was too young to take film school seriously," Bhumi says. "My parents told me this is it. That's when it hit me that I got an opportunity but I spoilt it."
A friend told her that Yash Raj Films was on the lookout for an assistant casting director. She applied for the job, and got it.
Her first "boss" was Abhimanyu Ray (who has cast for films like Chak De! India, Rocket Singh: Salesman Of The Year and Teen Patti among others). Then, she joined star casting director Shanoo Sharma's team.
"I was a teenager when I joined YRF. I have worked here for six years and done all kinds of jobs. From being a casting assistant to an assistant director, name it and I've done it," Bhumi says.
Then Dum Laga Ke Haisha happened.
'I don't recognise myself in the film'
IMAGE: Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi in Dum Laga Ke Haisha.
Ironically, Bhumi did not realise she was auditioning for Dum Laga Ke Haisha.
"A lot of times actors come from outside Mumbai to audition for roles, so we send them a reference audition. So I did a mock audition and didn't realise that it was my first audition. I auditioned for the film for two months, and I really, really, prayed that I would get the role. They told me I bagged it on my birthday!" Bhumi exclaims.
That's when the fun really started, as Bhumi got to do what she loved: Act and EAT!
"I was a regular sized Indian girl before I started on the film. I weighed around 65, 68 kilos. I had to gain weight for my character, and reached 90 kilos in a year!" she says.
Bhumi helped herself to butter chicken, dal makhni, pizza... "Name it and I was eating it," she says.
In the film, Bhumi plays a heavy-set girl named Sandhya who has an arranged marriage with Ayushmann Khurrana's Prem who lives in Haridwar. Prem hates being married to her, hugely embarrassed by her weight. A couples' hurdle race finally does the trick, where Prem has to carry his wife on his back -- and brings the young couple together.
"I don't recognise myself in the film," Bhumi says with a laugh. "Sometimes I feel wow, that's you!"
As if to remind herself, Bhumi has watched the film more than 35 times.
"I've even watched it alone in a theatre many times! Ek point ke baad, sab pak gaye (after a point, my friends got bored). 'Bhumi, we know you're in the film, but how many times will we watch it?" she says, imitating her friends, and bursting out laughing.
The film won her many awards.
"Awards are extremely important to me because it's my first film. Actually, I didn't know how many people would actually notice the film. It was a big risk for me and when your work gets appreciated, it's very motivating," she says.
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