Bhumi Pednekar blames Covid-19 pandemic for lack of women-led films: ‘There was cost-cutting on female-centric movies’

Bhumi Pednekar blames Covid-19 pandemic for lack of women-led films: ‘There was cost-cutting on female-centric movies’

Bhumi Pednekar believes that Veere Di Wedding was the last women-centric film to do well at the box office. Bhumi’s Thank You For Coming released recently.

Bhumi Pednekar has said that the last female-centric movie that worked well at the box office was Kareena Kapoor Khan and Sonam Kapoor’s Veere Di Wedding (2018), adding that the Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown led to cost-cutting on women-centric films. Bhumi was speaking with PTI ahead of the release of her new film Thank You For Coming. Rhea Kapoor has produced the film; she was also the producer of Veere Di Wedding

Bhumi told the news agency that Veere Di Wedding was the last such film that worked at the box office and highlighted the fact that the same producers have made Thank You For Coming. She said, “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, we saw Rhea Kapoor, who made this kind of film (Thank You For Coming) again.”

She added that good films will always work. “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 ₹350 crore. While my film did ₹45 crore but our film was running in theatres for 100 days. The beauty of cinema is that good work will always be remembered and watched for generations,” she added.

Thank You Coming and patriarchy

Bhumi also talked about the theme of her new film and insisted that it is not man versus woman, but rather a take on how patriarchy is ingrained in both men and women. She said, “Orgasm is a metaphor for a larger scheme of things that the film talks about. The film is against patriarchy, it is not about man versus woman, because patriarchy is not gender specific. Women and men both are patriarchal. That’s the thought of the film. The film is about sisterhood, womanhood… Every film has a thought or a premise, so this is the premise of the film.”