Actor Bhumi Pednekar munches on a few cashew nuts she has grabbed from the table in front of her. Ask her if she needs a break before we start our chat and she smilingly dismisses the suggestion, saying she just needs the extra energy after hours of interviews. Neither Pednekar nor her co-star Sushant Singh Rajput, who chats rather excitedly, betray their exhaustion when talking about their film, Sonchiriya that will release this Friday.
On the wish list
The two actors have worked with the incisive director Abhishek Chaubey for the first time. Pednekar and Rajput explain they didn’t take long to jump onboard for Sonchiriya – Chaubey’s fourth film, after his rustic comedy thrillers Ishqiya (2010) and Dedh Ishqiya (2014) and Udta Punjab (2016) which was set against the drug menace. “I’d wanted to meet him for the longest time,” says Rajput, saying he agreed to play the dacoit Lakhna as soon as the role was offered to him.
“He was on my wish list since Ishqiya. And I [knew] that he [was] a very active part of Omkara (2006) and a lot of [other] Vishal [Bhardwaj] sir’s films,” shares Pednekar, referring to Chaubey’s earlier work as a writer and assistant director with numerous Vishal Bhardwaj films, “That’s the kind of cinema I love. If I was not a part of this film, I would’ve felt a great sense of loss.” The decision only got easier on learning the dacoit drama’s cast included Ranvir Shorey, Manoj Bajpayee and Ashutosh Rana.
Authentic setting
The story is located in Chambal in the year 1975, that is during Emergency, and follows a group of infighting dacoits and a ruthless police officer who’s out to get them. Rajput says the layered narrative brings authenticity to the script. Adding to that Pednekar – who plays the fiery Indumati – says, “The film makes a very big comment on the caste divide, and on a woman’s status in society. [Over] 43 years later, we have not gone further ahead.” Both Pednekar and Rajput emphasise that their characters in Sonchiriya are a departure from their previous roles.
After making his Bollywood debut as cricketer Ishaan Bhatt in Kai Po Che! (2013), the protagonists in Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! (2015) and in the biopic M.S. Dhoni (2016), and Mansoor in the interreligious love story Kedarnath (2018), Rajput’s selection of characters has been notably diverse. “Every character I do [is] slightly distinct from me – I don’t understand it completely,” he says, “[But] this was the most distant I thought that I could ever go. I don’t know this guy, [or] this world!”
Pednekar echoes his sentiments. Known for taking on roles from the small-town milieu like Sandhya in her debut Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015), or Jaya in Toilet: EK Prem Katha (2017), she says, “I’m like a typical Bombay girl – I enjoy the perks of beauty. It’s a lot of fun for me to play somebody who is away from Bhumi.” About playing Indumati, she shares, “She will never be out of my system. Sonchiriya changed me as a human being. I’ve become more humble [and] I’ve realised that I’m really privileged. Even though I have played really empowered characters, the kind of strength this girl shows is commendable.”
Training for the role
To immerse themselves into lives beyond their realm of experience, the actors had to learn Bundelkhandi, and by the end of their shoot, the actors would easily slip into conversing in the dialect. “[The] impoliteness is so funny that it has added a lot of character and humour into the film,” says Pednekar referring to the film’s colourful language. Sharing a glimpse into what else went into their characters, Rajput shares how he usually preps for his scenes, “I get done with preparation very quickly, but it doesn’t mean I stop thinking about my character. The scenes that I have to shoot keep on playing [in my head].” For Pednekar it was a more arduous journey.
To prepare for her role in the dry and harsh terrain of Chambal (“There was a lot of walking,” she shares, “and I would see a dead carcass, [or] some bones lying around”), Pednekar would walk barefoot on rocky lanes in Versova’s Aram Nagar with weights of 10 to 15 kg on her back, use an earthen stove and even grind grains into flour. She shares that essentially a small village was set up to prepare for the shoot. “At times I would [carry about] 10 litres of water on my head,” she adds, “because women were pushed into household chores – [that’s] a lot of physical labour.”
On the anvil
While the pay-off for their efforts happens this week, both the actors have a packed 2019. Checking off a mental list, Rajputs eyes widen as he nods and says, “I need to promote too many films this year – four is the minimum.” There will be the action drama Drive, which is a remake of an American film sharing the same name, Dil Bechara, a Hindi adaptation of the novel and 2014 film The Fault in Our Stars, the romantic comedy Chhichhore, and Rifleman.
Pednekar shares, “After a heavy film like Sonchiriya I’ve done something like [director Alankrita Shrivastava’s] Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitaare – which is again a very empowered character, but it’s more fun!” She will also be seen sharing the screen with frequent co-star Ayushmann Khurrana in Bala, and in Karan Johar’s Takht. Still tight-lipped about her roles, she simply says, “I think Karan is going to make sure all the non-glam bit of [me] is gone.”