Haven't Made A Name As Far As Landmark Work Is Concerned: Nehha Pendse

Nehha Pendse interview: Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hai! famed Nehha Pendse is a household name. With over two decades in the industry across formats she has carved a niche for herself. Pendse, who got married in 2020, is now waiting for the release of her upcoming Marathi film June. She spoke to SheThePeople about upcoming project, the impact of sharing territory with Bollywood on Marathi films and why Marathi filmmakers need to take more risk, when it comes to subjects.

Some edited snippets from the conversation:

The film June will have an OTT release on Planet Marathi and stars Siddharth Menon, Kiran Karmarkar along with Pendse, who has recently taken over the role of Anita Mishra in the show Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hai! 

Pendse was born and brought up in Mumbai. She has acted in Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam films and rose to fame with her role as Sanjana Hiteshi in May I Come In Madam? She went on to be a contestant in Bigg Boss season 12 in 2018.

Here is where you can watch our conversation with Nehha:

About June

Pendse says, "June is about two strangers coming in together, unknowingly helping each other and how they land up solving each other’s miseries in a way. And these two people by solving their own problems, help a lot of other people who are entangled because of them."

Interestingly, the film has broken away from the Bombay-Pune set up and is being set up in Aurangabad. To this the actor says, "Predominantly Marathi films are about Mumbai-Pune or right in your rural or village side. We’ve had very few films which talks about smaller cities or smaller towns or these sandwiched places which are neither here nor there. About what happens to those people or their mentality, their ideologies, what their struggles are, they are neither here nor there. So where do they stand in scheme of things and how they deal with it, this film is a representation if those sandwiched cities."

The film also features Resham Shrivardhan and Nilesh Diwekar. It is directed by Suhrud Godbole and Vaibhav Khisti, and written by Nikhil Mahajan.

Marathi Films Vs Bollywood

When asked if the Marathi industry feels that somewhere they have to share their audiences with Bollywood which is way more powerful, Nehha says that these are certain things which are defined by geography. "Mumbai is predominantly not just about Maharashtrian people, Mumbai being cosmopolitan brings in a lot of other castes and communities together and that is why we have to share our space. Because we are a part of it, we will get a part of it, we will not get the whole, if we are just a part of it. So, I guess that is the reason why we have to share and there is a direct competition, but having said that we still have people who are very loyal to Marathi films."

Are Marathi films changing?

Pendse says, "I 4-5 years back maybe we were doing really good films in Marathi. In the past couple of years, I have observed that we are not taking risks as far as subjects are concerned. We are doing more subjects which are commercially viable, because it is a smaller industry, and you can’t afford to take risks. But what is happening in the bargain is that we are churning same kind of things day in and day out and there is a stagnation.

When we were discussing June we realised we don’t have the capacity right now to think out of the box because there are too many things under consideration and that is how we thought that let’s just do something which people won’t expect and that is how June came in motion."

In the past couple of years, I have observed that we are not taking risks as far as subjects are concerned. We are doing more subjects which are commercially viable, because it is a smaller industry, and you can’t afford to take risks.

What's next?

We asked Nehha if she feels safe in the place she is now in? She responded saying, "I think ,I have a name but I haven't made a name as far as landmark work is concerned. That is the kind of achievement I am looking for right now."

Transcription done by Sharanya Shresty.

You can watch June Trailer here: