Bhumi Pednekar (actress)

Bhumi Pednekar
Pednekar at the screening of Shubh Mangal Savdhan
Born	(1989-04-15) 15 April 1989 (age 28) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2015–present

Bhumi Pednekar (born 15 April 1989) is an Indian film actress. After working as an assistant casting director for several years for Yash Raj Films, she signed a three-film deal with the company as an actress and made her film debut with a leading role in the 2015 romantic comedy Dum Laga Ke Haisha–which won her a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. Following this, she rose to prominence as a headstrong woman in the comedy-dramas Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017) and Shubh Mangal Savdhan (2017), both of which proved to be major commercial successes, and for which she received critical acclaim.

Pednekar was born to a Konkani family in Goa, her father is from a Goan village called Pedne (the origin of her name), and a Haryanvi mother. She did her schooling from Arya Vidya Mandir in Juhu Mumbai. She was an assistant casting director for six years with Shanoo Sharma of Yash Raj Films before venturing into acting.

Pednekar played the role of Sandhya Varma, an obese girl in her debut film Dum Laga Ke Haisha, opposite Ayushmann Khurrana in 2015. As reported by Daily News and Analysis, she was quoted as saying that in order to play the role of an overweight woman, she gained close to 12 kg, despite being overweight before the shooting had commenced. It is also reported that Pednekar has signed a three-film deal with Yash Raj Films.Rajeev Masand wrote in his reviews: "Pednekar steals the film with an assured turn, effortlessly making you care for Sandhya, without ever reducing her to a slobbering, self-pitying caricature." After filming, she began losing weight and shared methods and tips of the process through her social media. She lost significant weight before the release of the film. The film proved to be a sleeper hit and Pednekar won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut for the film.