Pandemic put a break on female-led movies, says Bhumi Pednekar

Mumbai, Oct 6: Bhumi Pednekar says the coronavirus pandemic-induced lockdown led to cost-cutting and thus affected the budget of women-centric films.
The actor currently features in buddy comedy “Thank You For Coming”, which has a predominantly female cast. Also starring Shehnaaz Gill, Dolly Singh, Kusha Kapila, and Shibani Bedi, the film will hit the screens Friday.
According to Pednekar, “Veere Di Wedding” was the last female-led movie that did well at the box office with earnings of around Rs 130 crore. Its producers Rhea Kapoor and Ektaa R Kapoor have reunited for “Thank You For Coming”.
“‘Veere Di Wedding’ is the last female story that worked and the same producers are making this film. After ‘Veere Di Wedding’ we had more such stories. Then lockdown (due to COVID-19) happened and then obviously there was cost cutting on female-centric films. Then again, we saw Rhea Kapoor, who made this kind of film again,” the Mumbai-born actor told PTI in an interview here.
Citing the example of her 2019 film “Saand Ki Aankh”, Pednekar said the box office collections are not in anyone’s control.
“It is all about whether the film is good or bad. I remember when I had done ‘Saand Ki Aankh’, which is a female-led film, compared to another film, which released on the same day, and it did overall business of Rs 350 crore. While my film did Rs 45 crore but our film was running in theatres for 100 days,” she added.
The beauty of cinema is that good work will always “be remembered and watched for generations”, the actor said.
“Films earn money but we hope people will come and watch our films. We don’t take the pressure because certain things are not in our hands.”
“Thank You For Coming” is a coming-of-age comedy which follows the story of Kanika Kapoor (Pednekar), a single woman in her 30s, and her quest for true love and pleasure. It is written by Radhika Anand and Prashasti Singh and directed by Karan Boolani. (PTI)