Actor Bhumi Pednekar does not like the term “female-led projects”. Sharing her views, Bhumi said, “There is a misconception that people are not immediately drawn to watch films or content headlined by women. Such projects are immediately bracketed as ‘female-led projects’. This is an annoying term and I hate it from my gut. Gender doesn’t define people’s watching preferences. Audience wants to see good cinema, and good content. They aren’t choosing to watch it basis gender. It’s ridiculous.” (Also Read: Thank you for casting Bhumi Pednekar in roles that are a far cry from her real, urban self)

“If that was the case, I wouldn’t have survived and I have built a career out of essaying remarkably strong women on screen! I got lucky because I started working at a time that coincided with how women characters were being written for cinema. There were author-backed roles written for me. I was fortunate that directors liked my performances and chose me to headline in some of these incredibly beautiful projects that showed women as agents of change,” she explained.

Supporting her views, she mentioned how well her film Bhakshak performed. “My last hit Bhakshak was about a woman’s willpower to fight the system for social good and it went on to become a huge hit globally. So audiences saw a female actor headline a subject that took on patriarchy and showed it in all its ugliness. Such a project should have never become a hit if the audience were selecting to watch male-actor-driven projects,” she said.

As per Bhumi, filmmakers should take the punt and produce more and more projects with the same budget and scale that male actors get in our country. “Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Lust Stories, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Saand Ki Aankh, Bala, Pati Patni Aur Woh are all films that had women driving the story and they are all successful projects. So, I feel it’s high time we discard all misconceptions and back projects led by women and give it the scale and mounting that we truly deserve,” she added.