‘WE CAN’T IMAGINE A LIFE WITHOUT EACH OTHER’

Onkar Kulkarni (BOMBAY TIMES; April 10, 2024)

Bhumi Pednekar and sister Samiksha are a riot together. They resemble each other, have similar values, love glamming up and travelling together, but the sisters who share an unbreakable bond have distinct personalities. On Siblings Day, the feisty and fun Pednekar girls pose for an exclusive photoshoot with us and talk about their fights, feelings and how they can’t imagine a life without the other. Excerpts…

What kind of equation did you share while growing up, and has it evolved over the years?
Bhumi: Samiksha is three-and-a-half years younger than me. I was extremely excited about welcoming a sibling, and I was always very maternal towards her. We have been inseparable since the beginning. We also had common friends in school. Our equation has evolved a lot over the years. It has gone from me being her elder sister to us being friends, and now business partners.
Samiksha: Bhumi is my best friend, older sister, mom, my grandmom... she means everything to me. As kids, we would fight over the TV remote, make-up and clothes. But make-up is also that one thing which we would bond over as we both loved glamming up from an early age.

So, who has been your parents’ favourite?
Samiksha: It was, of course, Bhumi!
Bhumi: Mom would keep telling Samiksha, 'You are in this world because I wanted Bhumi to have a sibling'. This is my mom’s favourite line, and she thinks it is a very sweet thing to say (laughs).
Samiksha: I tell mom that she can’t keep saying that, because that can’t be the purpose of my life (laughs).

In terms of your personalities, how different are the two of you?
Samiksha: Bhumi made my life easy. She fought the battles, so I could follow in her footsteps.
Bhumi: While growing up, I was more idealistic, while Samiksha was a tornado. She was a troublemaker and a rebel. She is still naughty and has a lot of fire in her. She is very headstrong, while I am the softer one. We are kind of yin and yang. Samiksha has studied and practised law. She has surprised us. From being a backbencher, to a gold medallist lawyer to switching careers overnight and excelling in it - that’s something that I draw a lot of inspiration from.

Samiksha, were you ever influenced by Bhumi to become an actor? Did she push you to give it a shot?
Samiksha: I see her films and feel that I can never be an actor as good as her, so I rather not try it. Being an actor requires a lot of talent, resilience and hard work, and not everyone is cut out for that.
Bhumi: I did ask Samiksha to try her hand at acting because at one point people reached out to me to ask if my sister is interested in it. However, Samiksha always had a lot of clarity of thought. We want to leave behind a larger legacy of what we do individually and what we do together. We both have our individual careers – I am an actor and she does content creation. Together, we are in the process of creating something larger and impactful.

Do you ever wonder how your equation will evolve when one or both of you decide to get married?
Bhumi: Our vision is to continue living together.
Samiksha: I guess we’ll have to find ghar jamais (laughs).
Bhumi: On a serious note, we keep taking about the fact that at some point there will be other people in our lives and our family will grow. But I hope, we never have any physical distance between us. I can’t imagine Samiksha moving to a different city. I would just crumble.
Samiksha: I can’t imagine a life without Bhumi.

If you had to name a sibling jodi in Bollywood the two of you resonate with, who would that be?
Bhumi: Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan. I see them and I feel… I know this relation. I know this energy. They are always together. They have common friends and are like a single unit, just like us.