Bollywood star Bhumi Pednekar, who shot to fame with her debut fame 'Dum Laga Ke Haisha' alongside newcomer Ayushmaan Khurrana, has always been a vocal citizen for environment protection and has taken up climate conservation as a cause to raise awareness among fellow Indians.
Bhumi recently launched a lauded online and offline initiative called 'Climate Warrior' through which she intends to mobilising citizens of India to contribute towards protecting the environment. And now, because of the impact, this journey has had on her, the 'Bala' star has turned vegetarian, crediting her climate-conscious journey for enabling her to make this life choice.
In a media statement, Bhumi Pednekar said, “For many years I had the want to go vegetarian but breaking habits are the toughest thing to do. My journey with 'Climate Warrior' taught me a lot of things and I just didn’t feel like eating meat anymore.”
The acclaimed actress, who is set to release her next 'Durgavati' on December 11 this year, realised she wanted to turn vegetarian during the lockdown. She added, “I was never heavy on non-vegetarian, but I took a call in the lockdown. It was actually something that happened organically. It’s been 6 months and I’m good, guilt-free and feel physically strong as well.”
Earlier, actor Riteish Deshmukh gave up non-vegetarian food, black coffee and aerated drinks for a cause. Riteish and his wife Genelia D'Souza pledged to donate their organs too.
"I have given up non-vegetarian food, black coffee and aerated drinks. I want to keep my body healthy. And eventually, when the time comes for donating my organs, people should say, 'Jaate jaate healthy organs chhod kar gaya' (he left healthy organs)," said Riteish.
He also shared how he and his wife decided to donate organs. "We (Genelia and Riteish) have been thinking about this (organ donation) for a few years now. During this lockdown, we got a lot of time to think about what we should do. Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of information on organ donation like where to go and how to go about the process," said the actor while supporting Dr Sunil Shroff on the Karamveer special episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati.