Actress Bhumi Pednekar is ending the year with Durgamati, a supernatural film on Amazon Prime Video, where she gets to play the titular role. She explains that while every film is crucial, ones where she gets to be the sole protagonist are especially important because such opportunities are few and far between.
An excerpt from our chat with her:
"I feel a sense of responsibility in all my films. There's always a certain amount of ownership that I feel and without that I won't enjoy doing the film. But when you you're playing a titular character, carrying an entire film on your shoulders, the game changes. I feel Durgamati is a game changing film for me. It's a rare opportunity for an actress to get to play such a part. Usually you'll always see male actors do a film like this where the canvas is so big, it's high on drama, there are slow motion shots, low angles and action scenes. I never imagined myself getting to do these things and I'm not sure if I'll get the opportunity again because there are very few films that are high on content, have logic, and also have mass appeal. And even fewer that are written for women. I think only Sridevi ma'am did cinema like this back in the day. So that's why this film is so special to me. I can say this has been my toughest role so far. It's been challenging emotionally and physically."