Gone are the days when women were portrayed as the stereotypical meek ones bullied by the patriarchal society. Many women are coming forward to voice their opinion and shake the stereotypes. One such actress is Bhumi Pednekar. She has always voiced her opinion and that’s one of the reasons why she is a powerful force. Her movies also depict empowering women. But she feels that Indian cinema needs to evolve a lot when it comes to depicting women in a true light. Bhumi Pednekar On Changing Hindi Film Industry “Women Have Desires, Ambition, Physical Needs, And Emotions”.
“For starters, we need to change the depiction of the genders. We need to change how we show women and men. Women are not supposed to be whitewashed —we have desires, we have ambition, we have physical needs and emotions, and we have the capacity to balance. I believe women have superpowers, and I think we need to see a lot more of that in our cinema,” said Bhumi.
The actress added, “Similarly, we must alter the way men are shown in films. We put so much pressure on the male gender, telling them that they are supposed to be strong, that they can’t cry, can’t show emotion…that is so wrong. This narrative—‘mard ko dard nahi hota’ or ‘a man doesn’t hurt’—this needs to change.”
Bhumi says cinema has a huge impact on audiences and it can be used to change the mindset of people in the most positive way. She says, “I also believe we need to stop objectifying women and there needs to be a lot more inclusivity in films, including the LGBTQIA+ community. I know change is in the air. I just wish we could accelerate it. Like, I just watched Super Deluxe and I couldn’t believe what I was watching. There’s such great work happening today and I feel lucky to be part of the Hindi film industry at this point.” Bhumi Pednekar On Changing Hindi Film Industry “Women Have Desires, Ambition, Physical Needs, And Emotions”