Bollywood actress Bhumi Pednekar, who is featuring in two interesting films -- "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha" and "Shubh Mangal Saavdhan" -- says being a Mumbai girl, she is very well-versed with the reality of social issues, be it gender equality or open defecation.
As her upcoming film "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha" deals with the issue of open defecation, has she ever has faced such a situation in her life? "No, I am an urban girl, born and brought up here in Mumbai and never faced such things. However, I come from a family where my parents are not just busy in the daily chaos of life, but also read newspapers and are well aware of the reality in our society.
"Therefore, though I am urban, but never lived in a bubble," Bhumi told IANS here.
Bhumi said she understood the intensity of the situation further after coming on board for the film.
"Like many commoners, even I used to think that may be our government is not doing enough. What I did not understand is it is a taboo and a mindset that is stopping people to use those public toilets made by the government."
She added: "In this film, I felt connected with the character Jaya as a woman. Imagine a girl who came to live in a house after marriage where she has to control her toilet urge for 14 hours and then only can go before sunrise and after sunset.
"During her open defecation, she has to be conscious as there's insecurity in the dark, she might get raped. How she must have gone through especially during her menstruation days."
According to Bhumi, it was not a task to empathize with the character and that Jaya, her character, represents many women of the country who are facing the problem every single day.
Was there any moment where she had gone over-the-top emotionally while narrating the character?
"There comes the director. See, I am an emotional person and since I was emotionally connected to my character, while performing it was bound to happen. But our director (Shree Narayan Singh) had a strong vision and whenever I got carried away, he showed me the way.
"As an actor, I believe making a cinema is a collaborative effort and if critics appreciate my performance, I do not take full credit of that, because I am a director's actor," said Bhumi, who was seen in "Dum Laga Ke Haisha".
"Toilet: Ek Prem Katha" is releasing on August 11.
