Bhumi Pednekar sees the positive side to everything, even the home confinement which looks like it could stretch into the new year. But after nine films in three years, it was a much-needed break. “Everything was happening at breakneck pace. Crazy schedules where I’d sometimes start working from 3 am and wrap up after 15 hours. There were a lot of injuries and frequent illness,” she admits, saying the forced time off has been a time of healing and recovery. “I am not on any diet, I eat what I feel like and workout moderately when I feel like it. I sleep a lot and am giving my body the love that I hadn’t all these years.”

Like some of her colleagues, she had tried her hand at cooking but stopped after making her favourite dishes. Planting a kitchen garden with her mother was far more fulfilling. “I read up on the effects of climate change, re-educated myself on sustainability. We planted tomatoes, chillies, fenugreek, coriander, brinjal, bittergourd, and okra and soon, meals were coming fresh from the garden. The plants didn’t survive the Mumbai monsoons but we are re-potting now,” she enthuses.

When not tending to her plants, Bhumi’s in front of the mirror, tending to herself. “I am not a professional but I enjoy doing my own make-up and have taught myself tricks to get it right,” she shares, revealing that since they were teenagers, her sister, Samiksha, and she have been playing dress-up, and saving pocket money to buy make-up. “I got my first vanity box when I was 14. After I started working, most of my salary went into cosmetics. I’m very different from the de-glamourised characters that I play. I believe it’s important to value what God has given you,” she asserts.

The actress has been posting dolled up shots of herself which are a far cry from the role-oriented styling of the past so her fans can see the ‘real’ Bhumi. “I am using the social media to become one with my audience and it’s happening organically,” she acknowledges.

In September, the actress visited her ancestral village in Pedne and came back raving about the temples. “Grateful for our culturally enriched lineage,” she’d raved. Was it a need for divine intervention in a tumultuous year that took her on a pilgrimage? Bhumi laughs, insisting it was only the need to get out after months of being cooped up that led to the trip. “This has been a time of connecting with the family. There I learned that my grandfather had run away from the village at the age of 14 to join a theatre group. Also, my great-grandfather had been a part of the village toli that went around performing plays. So, acting has been in my genes all along,” she exults.

Bhumi resumed work from July with home-styled photo shoots, dubbing, promotions, and post-production. Shoots, she rues, are very different now as safety protocols have put an end to shared meals and whispered gossip. “You can’t even run to the monitor to check a shot now. The fact that the virus is still active always plays on your mind. As actors, we can’t wear masks all the time despite several people entering our vanity vans to prep us up, so we have to be extra cautious. I hope the fear won’t come in the way of my performance,” she says, worriedly.

But despite everything, she’s excited about her upcoming horror-thriller Durgavati, a remake of Anushka Shetty’s Telugu film Bhaagamathie. “I took it on as a challenge as the arc of the character is very diverse. Otherwise, I am scared of horror films and watch them through slitted eyes after putting idols all around the television. We were shooting at old, dilapidated places but luckily, the vibes were good, otherwise I would have been really spooked,” she laughs.

And does she feel the pressure of taking Badhaai Ho forward? “I was waiting for the right project to collaborate with Raj (Rajkummar Rao, co-star) and Badhaai Do does full justice to the franchise. Junglee Pictures has been doing some great work and I loved (director) Harshavardhan Kulkarni’s Hunterrr. This year I got the opportunity to work with Alankrita (Shrivastava) and G Ashok too and there’s a lot to look forward to in 2021,” she avers.

Prod her for details and she clams up, only saying she has signed “many” projects and is trying a mix of genres. And now that she’s savoured self-love, will she be taking more vacations? “The time for holidays is gone, I’m going to pack in as much as I can into 2021. It’s my duty to entertain so it’s going to be work, work, and more work, but no worries, it’s not going to make Bhumi a dull girl,” she chuckles.