When Bhumi Pednekar began speaking up about climate change and environmental issues, she found it a lonely journey. The actor shares, “I don’t remember when I first became environment conscious. But we were taught about climate change in school, so subconsciously, since then, I’ve been working towards the cause. As a young adult, we didn’t have as many people talking about the problem as we have today. The entire movement is led by young adults today, but back then, it was a very lonely journey because I didn’t have many like-minded people.”

The 32-year-old, who makes it a point to plant saplings every World Environment Day, has organised a plantation drive this year, tying up with a children’s NGO. Pointing out how there’s greater acknowledgement of the climate crisis now, she adds, “A lot more people now believe that the largest threat looming over humanity is climate change. There’s a breakout of various viruses, a lot of natural disasters... Humanity is going through a crisis, and people recognise that today.”

Being a celebrity helps spread the word, but she says that wasn’t the case right after she became an actor. Pednekar, who is currently filming for The Lady Killer, shares, “When I would share public platforms with other colleagues of mine, they didn’t necessarily look at this issue as something that can be such a big threat... Just five months into 2022, and we are seeing floods in various cities, large areas have completely dried up at places, heatwave is on, monsoons are early. This is climate change.”