At some point in her life, every overweight woman is likely to have been called 'Tun Tun'. That was the screen name for comedienne-singer Uma Devi who, over the course of a career spanning five decades, got typecast as the fat butt of all jokes in films. Later, Guddi Maruti suffered the same fate.

Considering the industry's limited view of plus-sized women, Sharat Katariya's Dum Laga Ke Haisha (DLKH), is refreshingly different. Its protagonist is overweight, confident, capable and educated. Played winningly by debutante Bhumi Pednekar, Sandhya is aware that her weight is a “liability“ in the marriage market but she remains completely comfortable in her skin.

The film, which challenges the prevailing notion in Bollywood that thin is a prerequisite for heroines, has struck a chord with audience, especially women. Tejaswini Ganti, who teaches anthropology at NYU and is the author of Producing Bollywood: Inside the Contemporary Hindi Film Industry, says the skinny phenomenon had a lot to do with models and beauty queens coming into the industry. “They changed the norm for what is considered attractive. In older films, the focus was on the face and expressions. “ The film industry's weight obsession is particularly evident among its own progeny. Arjun Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha and Alia Bhatt have all been significantly overweight, hitting the gym the minute a showbiz career seemed imminent. That trope of a physical transformation from ugly duckling to swan is one that DLKH avoids.

“The beauty of the film is there is no makeover. The tagline is 'Love comes in all sizes' and the person who falls in love with you for what you are is the person worthy of your love,“ says Pednekar.

Part of the reason she could transform into Sandhya is that DLKH was her debut film. She wasn't saddled with an image and wasn't juggling multiple projects like most leading actresses. “When they asked me to gain more weight, I had no inhibitions and I was really happy because I am very passionate about food. They were the best few months of my life. I would do it all over again,“ she says. The farthest most stars will go to get into a character is to go' de-glam' - the make-up artfully concealed. The exceptions are few -Vidya Balan did allow herself to gain weight to convincingly portray the downward spiral of Silk in The Dirty Picture and Priyanka Chopra totally transformed as Jhilmil in Barfi!.

Ganti says this fear of not looking good at all times is rooted in the vulnerable position heroines occupy in the industry. “The protagonists are usually male and the heroines, often, are interchangeable. So much of an actresses' value in the filmmaking process has to do with her appearance.“

Will DLKH be a flash in the pan? If so it is one that needs to be savoured as it deals a double blow to the patriarchy in Bollywood. The first, by having an overweight female protagonist who was not aiming to drop kilos by the end of the film and secondly, by casting a first-time actress who chose not to wear a fat suit.