Pednekar was born in Bombay (nowMumbai) on 18 July 1989.[5][6] She is ofKonkani andHaryanvi descent; her father,Satish Pednekar, was a formerMLA and Home and Labour Minister ofMaharashtra. Her mother, Sumitra Pednekar, worked as an anti-tobacco activist after the death of her husband from oral cancer.[7][8][9] Bhumi has a younger sister named Samiksha, who is a lawyer and a model.[10][11] She did her schooling from Arya Vidya Mandir inJuhu.[12] At the age of 15, her parents took out a study loan for her to study acting atWhistling Woods International, but she was expelled due to poor attendance.[8] Within a year and a half, she joinedYash Raj Films as an assistant casting director, and paid off the loan.[8] She went on to work with the company for six years under Shanoo Sharma.[12][13]
Two years later, Pednekar was cast in the satireToilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017) as a young woman in rural India who insists on the eradication ofopen defecation, oppositeAkshay Kumar.[21] Despite disliking the story, Saibal Chatterjee ofNDTV praised her for "flesh[ing] out a refreshingly relatable college topper who becomes the principal catalyst for a mini-revolution".[22] With a worldwide gross of over₹3 billion (US$35 million), it emerged as one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of the year and Pednekar's biggest grosser.[23][24]
Later that year, her performance opposite Khurrana inShubh Mangal Saavdhan, a satire onerectile dysfunction, earned Pednekar her first nomination for theFilmfare Award for Best Actress.[25][26] Reviewing the film forThe Indian Express,Shubhra Gupta wrote that Pednekar "once again reminds us just how convincing she can be as a real honest-to-goodness young woman in search of love", but bemoaned that she was being typecast in such roles.[27]Shubh Mangal Saavdhan grossed₹700 million (US$8.3 million) worldwide.[28]Zoya Akhtar's segment in theNetflix anthology filmLust Stories marked Pednekar's sole screen appearance of 2018; she played a maid who has an affair with her employer.[29] Writing forNDTV, Raja Sen considered Akhtar's segment to be the best in the anthology, and found Pednekar "hauntingly good" in it.[30]
Pednekar in 2019
Abhishek Chaubey's crime dramaSonchiriya was Pednekar's first release of 2019.[31] She played a young housewife on the run in ruralChambal, alongsideSushant Singh Rajput andManoj Bajpayee. In preparation, she underwent two and a half months of physical training to portray her character's mannerism and gait; she also learned to fire a gun.[32] Rahul Desai ofFilm Companion praised the subtlety in the film and its performances, and credited Pednekar for "lend[ing] an inevitable sense of womanhood to the silenced".[33] She next starred as the septuagenarian sharpshooterChandro Tomar inTushar Hiranandani's biographical filmSaand Ki Aankh, oppositeTaapsee Pannu who played her sister-in-lawPrakashi Tomar. In preparation, Pannu and Pednekar spent time with the two women and trained in shooting a gun.[3] She suffered from skin allergies from filming in the heat wearing prosthetic make-up.[34] Udita Jhunjunwala ofMint wrote, "Pannu and Pednekar are wonderful and spunky and embrace their parts even though their body language and posture is variable".[35] Both actresses were jointly awarded theScreen Award andFilmfare Critics Award for Best Actress.[36][37]
Continuing her portrayals of headstrong small-town women, Pednekar starred inBala andPati Patni Aur Woh (both 2019).[3] The former marked her third collaboration with Khurrana, in which she played a dark-skinned woman who faces prejudice due to her skin colour. Controversy arose for casting a fair-skinned woman in the role, but Pednekar defended herself by saying that an actor should be allowed to play any part.[38][39]Pati Patni Aur Woh, a remake of a1978 film of the same name and co-starringKartik Aaryan andAnanya Panday, featured her as a housewife with a philandering husband.Anupama Chopra wrote that "it's Bhumi Pednekar's spirited Vedika who lifts the material up a notch. Bhumi has an intelligence that rescues some of the silliest scenes in this film, especially in the climax."[40] BothBala andPati Patni Aur Woh were commercially successful, each grossing over₹1 billion (US$12 million) worldwide.[41]
Commercial setback and streaming projects (2020–present)
After a year-long absence from the screen, Pednekar starred alongsideRajkummar Rao as gay individuals in alavender marriage in the comedy-dramaBadhaai Do (2022).[49][50] She was pleased with the opportunity of playing the vulnerable character of a closeted lesbian, as it marked a departure from the strong-willed women she typically played.[51] Rachana Dubey ofThe Times of India praised the film's handling ofLGBT themes and found Pednekar's performance to be "sensitive, nuanced, and on point".[52] She won another Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress (shared withTabu forBhool Bhulaiyaa 2), in addition to her second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.[53][54] She reteamed with Akshay Kumar inAanand L. Rai's family filmRaksha Bandhan. The film was panned for its regressive storytelling and it emerged as a box office bomb.[55] She then appeared inShashank Khaitan's comic thrillerGovinda Naam Mera, co-starringVicky Kaushal andKiara Advani, which released onDisney+ Hotstar.[56]Mid-Day's Hiren Kotwani found her "over-the-top" portrayal to be the best performance in a disappointing film.[57]
Pednekar in 2023
In 2023, Pednekar reteamed with Rajkummar Rao inAnubhav Sinha'sBheed, a drama inblack-and-white about theCOVID-19 lockdown in India.[58] Reviewers forScroll.in andRediff.com complimented her for ably supporting Rao's performance.[59][60] She then starred alongsideNawazuddin Siddiqui inSudhir Mishra'sAfwaah, a thriller aboutfake news.[61] BothBheed andAfwaah had controversial political themes; they received a limited theatrical release and had poor box office returns.[62][63] Her next release, the sex comedyThank You for Coming, premiered at the2023 Toronto International Film Festival.[64] It marked her first project in which she was cast in an urban setting, but she found it challenging to play a character that came close to her own personality, saying that it required "a lot of [my] own demons [...] to be examined".[65] Comparing her "vibrant comedic performance" to that of starsCarole Lombard andGoldie Hawn,IndieWire's Marya E. Gates found Pednekar's "irrepressible charm" and "overwhelming beauty" to be the highlight in a mediocre film.[66] Though another box office bomb, she received another Best Actress nomination at Filmfare.[67][68] She then starred oppositeArjun Kapoor in the thrillerThe Lady Killer. The film was released without principal photography being completed and was only given a small release without any marketing.[69] It became one of the biggest box office bombs of Indian cinema, earning less than₹1 lakh against a production budget of₹45 crore.[70]
Pednekar portrayed a journalist in the crime dramaBhakshak, which released on Netflix in 2024. Filmed in 39 days, it is based on theMuzaffarpur shelter case.[71][72] She described the role as "one of my most mature", causing her to "question my empathy and how I had become so numb towards somebody else’s pain".[73] Shubhra Gupta described her as "earnest" and "believable" in a movie that lacked "basic story-telling".[74]
In 2025, Pednekar played a woman withretrograde amnesia in the romantic comedyMere Husband Ki Biwi, co-starring Arjun Kapoor andRakul Preet Singh.[75] Sana Farzeen ofIndia Today felt that her "fiery Punjabi character, though fun initially, becomes overbearing after a point".[76] It emerged as Pednekar's seventh consecutive box-office bomb.[77] She next starred as a headstrong business owner who falls in love with a royal (played byIshaan Khatter) in the romantic drama seriesThe Royals, for Netflix. The series was panned by critics who criticised the chemistry between Pednekar and Khatter.[78][79]NDTV's Hardika Gupta felt that Pednekar's performance was particularly disappointing as she has shown previously that "she is capable of far more textured performances".[80] She will next lead the thriller seriesDaldal for Amazon Prime Video.[81]
The journalist Priyanka Roy ofThe Telegraph wrote in 2019 that Pednekar specialises in playing "women of fortitude with a strong moral fibre, mostly hailing from small towns".[2] She was featured byForbes India in their30 Under 30 list of 2018.[82] Pednekar ranked 5th inRediff.com's "Best Bollywood Actresses" list of 2020.[83] She was featured various times inTimes' 50 Most Desirable Women list. She ranked 40th in 2019 and 39th in 2020.[84][85]
In 2019, Pednekar began a campaign named Climate Warrior to raise awareness onenvironmental protection andglobal warming.[86] She is also vocal about issues such as pay parity and has spoken out about thegender pay gap in Bollywood, calling it "insulting" and "heartbreaking".[2] In 2020, she teamed withMTV India for their Nishedh campaign, which aims to create awareness about health issues, includingreproductive health, among the youth.[87] She was appointed as the brand ambassador ofNykaa in 2022.[88] In 2023, she was named by theUnited Nations Development Programme as India's first National Advocate forSustainable Development Goals, to raise awareness on climate change on social media.[89]
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