Bhumi Pednekar

Bhumi Pednekar was unaware that her audition would fetch her role in the film Dum Laga Ke Haisha When YRF began the casting of Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Bhumi Pednekar was involved in the casting along with casting director Shanoo Sharma. Aditya Chopra, Head of YRF, was interested in introducing a new girl in the role of Sandhya Verma, the roly-poly girl who faces obstacles in married life due to her obesity. Both Bhumi and Shanoo had auditioned about 100 girls but none could live up to their expectations of writer-director Sharat Katariya (he became famous after scripting Bheja Fry). One day Sharat Katariya had a strange idea about auditioning Bhumi because he was impressed by the way Bhumi was enacting the role and trying to help the new girls act out during the audition. When Sharat Katariya asked Bhumi to do an audition, she felt that Sharat was doing so that he could show the clip to the girls and ask them to act accordingly. However to her pleasant surprise when Aditya Chopra saw her audition he was overwhelmed and signed a three-film contract with Bhumi! Bhumi Pednekar’s amazing journey of reducing weight from 86kg to 60 kg After completing Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Bhumi was signed by many top filmmakers like Anand L. Rai for his film Manmarziyan, Zoya Akhtar for her short film and Akshay Kumar in his film Toilet – Ek Prem Katha. Hence she began her journey of reducing her weight to become slim and trim like the usual Indian film heroine. It took her over a year to shed the additional 25 kg weight. She followed strict diet control did regular workouts and stunned everybody by reducing a major part of her flab. She says while reducing her weight she did not starve but instead, she cleverly switched to traditional foods. She stopped butter chicken and all oily foods. In place of wheat roti, she changed to wholegrain flour made of ragi, amaranth and chana. She began her days by consuming 50 ml of aloe vera juice on an empty stomach. The breakfast consisted of 3 eggs-white omelettes with herbs and multi-grain bread or granola with skimmed milk. After this, she did work out for an hour. After working out she took protein-rich snacks, like egg whites or chana, chicken, and fish with some greens. Her lunch included 1 big bowl of sabzi, 2 small rotis made with a blend of ragi, soya, chana and amaranth flour, and a big glass of buttermilk. In the evening she ate seasonal fruits, usually a bowl of papaya or an apple and sipped green tea. For dinner, she had a bowl of salad with different kinds of greens, seeds, nuts cold-pressed oil, grilled chicken or fish with brown rice. Bhumi Pednekar felt delighted to work with Akshay Kumar After Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Bhumi has been fortunate that many filmmakers approached her with film offers but Bhumi turned down many films as she aspires to act in films that are entertaining and message-oriented. Hence when she was signed by Akshay Kumar for his film Toilet: Ek Prem Katha. She immediately signed the film as the film captures the country’s most critical issue of sanitation in India. The film is based on a true story of how a newlywed women in India, left her husband’s house as the house lacked a toilet. The movie depicts how Bhumi forces her husband Akshay Kumar to make a toilet. In a humorous style, the film takes a dig at corruption in government offices and exposes how red-tapism is the prime culprit behind the construction of toilets in India. Bhumi has also done Zoya Akhtar’s short film that is based on theme of Love and lust. Furthermore,r she is doing two films with Tanu Weds Manu director Anand L Rai.