Inclusion of more body types in Bollywood welcome: Bhumi

By Siddhi Jain

New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANSlife) Since her debut in "Dum Laga Ke Haisha", the transformation of Bhumi Pednekar - both in terms of her career and her style - has been complete. So much so that the actor is now the brand ambassador for the clothing brand, Raisin.

And she feels that there's now more acceptance of an individual's personality and style.

Her mantra? "Your style is an extension of your personality."

A Mumbai upbringing exposed her to a lot more.

"I'm a 1990s kid and globalisation had just hit us. So there were a lot of brands that came to Bombay first. Bombay is a place where you have a mix of culture. You have people from different parts of the country. Different parts of the world that come and live here. So you automatically get exposed to a lot of different tastes and cultures and I feel very fortunate for that," Bhumi told IANSlife over phone.

After putting on weight to play an overweight woman in "Dum.." (2015) opposite Ayushmann Khurana, Bhumi made headlines with her slim avatar post shedding 21 kilos in just four months.

"Honestly, gaining and losing were both very tough. Gaining sounds like it's a lot of fun but then you have to eat a certain amount of food that you're not used to eating it. Losing weight, in fact, makes you feel better because you know you're getting healthier but it requires a lot of discipline.

"I think the first few days more than being physically tough I think they were mentally difficult. Because just getting yourself to go to the gym everyday, eating clean, disconnecting yourself from the life outside, is the only way you can knock off the amount of weight that I did and in the time frame that I did."

Agreeing that Bollywood and society are now more accepting of more body types, Bhumi said it's a very welcome change.

"Now you see big brands use mannequins of different sizes and there's no one particular sample size that existed earlier. Today different body types are celebrated, If you're curvy you're celebrated, if you're not curvy and you're born extremely thin that's also celebrated.

"I think it's more about acceptance towards yourself and being healthy. The truth is we all aren't made the same way. God has given us different body types and different body structures and we need to respect that. Indian women are curvy, we are born that way. We cannot change that. I can't look like a European model who's like 5'9 and all her bones are a lot smaller. I can't look like that. Inclusivity of all body types is such a welcome change."

That's not it, Bhumi goes on to tell young girls that starving oneself to achieve a certain look is not worth it.

"You're really depriving your body of very important nutrition that is required especially when you're growing up.

"Today there is knowledge about health and nutrition. People are so much aware. People really care. The health and nutrition industry is really booming. Go get your knowledge, be realistic about it, go workout, eat wholesome food, eat organic, eat clean, eat at home. You don't need to starve yourself," the 30-year-old shared.

On the work front, Bhumi's schedule is lined up with upcoming releases with "Saand ki Aankh" releasing on Diwali, "Bala" in November, and "Pati Patni Aur Woh" in December. She also has "Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare" in February next year.

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Siddhi Jain can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in