Huma Qureshi: ‘I resent being put in a box’

Huma Qureshi. Pics/By Special arrangement, AFP, Instagram

Every actor dreams of building a wide-ranging body of work, but few achieve it. Huma Qureshi believes she has truly come into her own after 12 years in the industry. Today, she says she is "not afraid to add my tadka to anything that I do". This month alone, she produced and headlined the thriller Baby Do Die Do. Next month, she will be seen in Toxic, Geethu Mohandas's ambitious action drama starring Kannada star Yash. "It's a mad, different world," she says.

A still from ‘Baby Do Die Do'

The road less travelled is not an easy one, and if you don't follow the usual, commercial ecosystem of Bollywood, the journey only gets more difficult. Success, she initially believed "was to be famous or getting my picture everywhere". However, it means something very different to her today. "I wanted people to know me [then], but today success is about choosing the work that I do or choosing the people that I get to work with. Being able to say no to parts that you don't align with and how you see yourself as an artiste, that is success for me," the actor explains, adding that she "resents" being put in a box.

Yash in ‘Toxic'

"I resent being put in a box. As an actor, there's so much I can do, but I can't force somebody to give me an opportunity, even if I think I would be really good at it. The opportunities that do come to me, I will try and ace them. It is fun, and I take great pride in the fact that I can do a hot item song in the same year that I do an important piece about women's politics. I can age and de-age myself, I can do whatever because I'm an actor. I want to feel liberated from these shackles of other people's ideas and expectations. Image-wimage kuch nahi hota. It is what you want it to be," she asserts.

Dreaming romance

Despite her body of work, Qureshi dreams of headlining a romance or commercial film, but says those offers have never come her way. "If I do a commercial or romantic film, I will do it my way. I will not ape someone else's idea of it".

Qureshi's diverse filmography

>> ‘Gangs of Wasseypur'
>> ‘Ek Thi Daayan'
>> ‘Badlapur'
>> ‘Tarla'
>> ‘Maharani'
>> ‘Monica, O My Darling'
>> ‘Delhi Crime 3'

12
Number of years Huma Qureshi has been in the industry