In her debut film Dum Laga Ke Haisha (DLKH, 2015), Bhumi Pednekar played a teacher based in a small town in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. The actor followed it up with films like Toilet - Ek Prem Katha, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (both 2017) and the recently released Badhaai Do, where she was seen playing a strong-spirited small-town girl. While these acts have fetched her acclaim, she has also been stereotyped for being caught in the template.

But she has no qualms about it: “I am not scared of being stereotyped. I don’t think representing 70% [of the population] of the country should stereotype me.”

The actor, however, wants to make every small-town girl she plays starkly different from each other. She explains, “What I’m wary about is repetition, but that hasn’t happened so far. I’ve never had anyone telling me, ‘I’ve seen you do this before.’ Even if I’m playing a girl who’s from the same milieu in different films, I make sure that the ways they lead their lives are very different, and that requires a lot of unlearning about India’s heartland.”

Having been brought up in Mumbai, the journey to slipping under the skin of such characters hasn’t been easy for the actor. “In fact, it’s still very tough because I’ve not lived that life. But fortunately, I’ve had that exposure through films. And every film comes with a lot of prep,” says Pednekar.

The actor, who has spent seven years in the industry, credits her debut film for setting the tone of her career. “It’s been a few years since I have been acting, but I feel like I have started now, because it’s only now that I am getting to explore so much about myself. This is a great time for me,” ends the 32-year-old actor.