Punjabi star Neeru Bajwa, who makes a digital debut with the film Beautiful Billo, says women should not give up their careers after they become mothers

Sheetal

Much before Bollywood actress Neha Dhupia, Punjabi star Neeru Bajwa had normalised working during pregnancy. If in the 2016 movie Channo Kamli Yaar Di she was ‘real’ pregnant for her ‘reel’ character, this was again the case with Beautiful Billo, a film which marks the digital debut of the actress. Having been blessed with twin daughters, she is now looking forward to the premiere of the film on OTT platform Zee 5 on August 11.

My daughters tie the rakhi to each other…We being a family of three daughters and a brother always tied rakhi to our sisters as well, and I say the same to my three daughters.

Neeru, who has been experimenting a lot in the recent times and likes to associate with films that have a message, says to all the women out there, “Don’t give in to societal pressures that want women give up their careers after becoming mothers. I remember Santosh ji, my husband and I were at the airport when I was talking about taking a break. And then this script of Channo came along. In the case of Beautiful Billo too, I was pregnant first and then came the script! I am very excited to watch it with my family on television.”

Special moments

The film is special for it also stars Neeru’s younger sister Rubina Bajwa. “We are like any other siblings. We love each other and yet fight, so much so that our mother has to intervene sometimes,” adds Neeru. The actress confirms how both Billo and Sonica (Rubina’s character) are equally dominating, but the boss in real life is Rubina! On whether the mood swings of pregnancy seeped into her character, Neeru says, “The whole on-screen family is unpredictable. So, I neither had the chance to show nor felt any mood swings.”

After the recent Mandeep Kaur suicide case in the US, which highlighted domestic abuse and preference of boy over girl child, the actress initiated the hashtag #JusticeForMandeepKaur.

Rakhi release

Neeru, who was recently seen in Punjabi film Kokka, opposite Gurnam Bhullar, believes backlog of films due to Covid has affected box-office collections. As for Beautiful Billo, it releases on Raksha Bandhan. Neeru adds, “My daughters tie the rakhi to each other and that’s the change I think society needs as of now. We being a family of three daughters and a brother always tied rakhi to our sisters as well, and I say the same to my three daughters.”

Directed by Santosh Subhash Thite and Amrit Raj Chadha, Beautiful Billo also stars Roshan Prince and Raghveer Boli.