‘Our society is conditioned to see women in a certain way’
Bhumi Pednekar bared her heart to Priyanka Chopra during a masterclass at the ongoing Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) Film Festival. Bhumi stated that she always wanted to be in the film industry but didn’t have the ‘conventional looks’ for it.
Slamming the idea of looking a certain type during her growing-up years, Bhumi shared, “I didn’t look like any conventional girls, so I have never given the support or the confidence. Even when you are growing up, all the popular girls look a certain way and that’s okay. This is our society’s conditioning. So, I’m not trying to group them into a certain type. But society looks at a certain type of woman and goes, ‘Oh, she is hot and pretty because she is dainty and skinny. She has fair skin and is beautiful’. I didn’t have any of that and in my head, a lot of it comes from the family that I was born into. I’d be crushed in school and underconfident, but I’d go back home and they’d make me feel like I was beautiful. I was confused between being underconfident and overconfident. That gave me the courage to keep going. I hustle my way.”
Adding to her thoughts, Priyanka shared, “If you are aspiring to take a step towards something unfamiliar, surround yourself with people who are your champions and not people who are skeptical of your success or capabilities. Be in a community that gives you a solid foundation.”
Speaking about being thrown out of film school, Pednekar reminisced, “I told my parents that I was going to do acting and did a lot of ‘jugaad’. Someone suggested that I should apply to Whistling Woods School. The fee was very high and I applied there. But then, luckily, that institution gave us the option to take a student loan. I had no idea, but I took it because I was the only person who could make my dreams happen. I also took some help from mom and did it. Unfortunately, I was thrown out because my attendance was so low. I was too young. I feel 16 isn’t an age to get into a professional space because there is so much to learn. Naseer sir was heading my faculty, but I wasn’t mature enough to understand the opportunity that I had. So, when that happened, I realised that I’d be pushed into conventional forms.”
