Happy Birthday Bhumi Pednekar: The strong activist for social justice on reel and real

Bhumi Pednekar, the actress who upholds her social commitment throughout her reel and real life turns 32 today, on June 18, 2021. She is one of the most talented actresses in Bollywood, who is a real gem for the industry. Her attempts for social justice are so evident in her movies as well as in her real life. While cross checking her characters, many of them has tried to speak about a societal flaw, which could help in bringing a change to the society. 

On the background of losing her father to cancer, the actress has started struggling for a life since she was 18. She has said that she had to work extra hard in order to gain her own space where she shines brightly now. She started her career in cinema industry as assistant casting director in Yash Raj films before her debut in acting in the year 2015. Sharat Katariya’s Dum Laga Ke Haisha was her lucky debut which earned her the film fare award for best female debut. From then, Bhumi’s script and character selection has been something that loudens her social responsibility.

While talking about the politics in her characters, she played an over weight character in her debut movie, which smashes the beauty standards our society has made up. Her next movie Toilet: Ek Prem Katha brings up the importance of cleanliness and sanitation, in which she co-starred with Akshay Kumar. Her movies with Ayushmann Khurrana Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (2017), Bala (2019) and Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020), speaks about taboo about men’s sexuality, baldness, and a gay couple respectively. In the most famous anthology ‘Lust Stories’, she has starred in the Zoya Akhtar sequence which is about the class and caste difference in society and how it affects men and women from different classes.

Coming to her real life, she has been an active voice in various campaigns since 2019. A campaign called ‘Climate Warrior’ was initiated by her to raise awareness on the climate crisis in 2019, which speaks about the exploitation of environment by corporates. In 2020, she joined the MTV campaign called ‘Nishedh’, which creates awareness about sexual and reproductive health among youth. She has been actively vocal about the difference in pay scale for men and women in cinema’s space. During the pandemic, she joined an online campaign with Ketto.org, which provided financial help for Covid patients. She has also been a partner with the actor-comedian Kapil Sharma, in his mission to provide oxygen cylinders to Covid patients. Of the handful artists who take social responsibility seriously through their artistic works, Bhumi is the one who really is trying to bring a change in the society. Let her have a happy and prosperous birthday.