In 2020, she has completed five years as a Bollywood actor. After facing the arc lights for the first time in Dum Laga Ka Haisha (2015), Bhumi Pednekar has had an exciting journey with several successful yet meaningful films with powerful scripts. And the actor admits that she is “extremely satisfied” with her career trajectory. “I feel very fortunate that I’ve never been on a film set, and felt like, ‘why am I here?’ I’ve never been a part of the film where I’ve been like, ‘it’s not correct’,” she says, adding: “I don’t want to be unhappy doing the work that I do, and touchwood, that has never happened.”

At the same time, the Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017) actor feels she doesn’t want to just entertain the audiences. “I feel, as an actor, my profession comes with a certain responsibility, especially in the times that we’re living in. There is a lot that needs to change and if I can use my craft, my voice and the medium that I have been given by God, to bring about a positive change around me, I will consider myself very lucky. That’s why I have to consciously make a choice that though the priority is to entertain audiences, I must always ensure that I provide them with more than just a few laughs,” she says.

Pednekar kicked off her film career alongside Ayushmann Khurrana, and then went on to deliver a couple of more hits such as Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (2017) and Bala (2019) with him. The actor feels Khurrana deserves all the success that he has been enjoying, because “he has had such a long journey”. She adds: “Ayushmann was my first hero and out of the eight films I have done, three have been with him. He is a dear friend and I’m very fond of him. I feel extremely happy when I see where he has reached. The forte that Ayushmann and I have is a certain kind of cinema that we both kind of create when we get together,” she says.

The actor, who was last seen in Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare, believes that the three films she has worked with Ayushmann on, “have really been true to their genre”. She adds: “I feel really lucky because we have created a [film] space with each other that is very rare. I love collaborating with him, we are so like-minded, and our value system is also very similar. Till date, we have had a 100% success rate, and I really hope that it stays like that like in the future as well.”

Next up for Pedenkar is a horror-thriller, Durgavati — backed by Akshay Kumar — that will see her topline a film for the first time. And she admits it’s “exciting as well as nerve-wracking.” “Till now, I have always had a co-star to share the responsibility with but this is the first time that I am helming a film alone. There is a lot of responsibility on me. I’ve been very fortunate as an artiste, and I’m also proud of my journey so far. I’m grateful for this opportunity, and am really excited to see how people react because I’ve never looked like the way I do in the film. People have never seen me in this avatar,” she concludes.