Huma Qureshi is mixing things up, jumping from playing a femme fatale in Monica, O My Darling to inhabiting the part of an Everywoman with an extraordinary journey like Tarla Dalal in Tarla, releasing on Zee5 today. In the last few years, Huma has dabbled with big Hollywood (Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead) and has also made an impact on streaming, with two seasons of Maharani, front lined by her, becoming a huge success. The Telegrph chatted with Huma about her choices now and how she is being “chill”.
Variety has always been the defining focus of your career and more so over your last few projects, be it Maharani or Monica, O My Darling. How has the desire to do something different each time found fruition with the kind of projects that you are doing now?
The intent was always there, now I am getting the opportunities. Chaah hamesha se thi but that’s now being complemented by the work that I am being offered. As actors, you can only do good work, varied work, impactful work and after that hope that film-makers take notice of that and offer you the projects that you want to do. We are always dependent on directors and producers to hire us. Then there are some instances where you come across a subject that you really like but at that point, for various reasons, you don’t find the right people to collaborate with.But I am not complaining, it’s a good time! (Laughs) I am getting to work with people who come to me with fresh scripts and new ideas.
And is playing Tarla Dalal in Tarla part of that fresh wave?
For sure. Tarla was one of the first films that was offered to me after Maharani Season 1. I think Nitesh sir (Tiwari) and Ashwiny ma’am (Iyer Tiwari, both producers of the film) saw the show, which was released on a Friday, and they offered me the film on Monday.
I was very excited and grateful to be offered this film. It’s been quite a fun ride. I am always eager to collaborate with like-minded people. My quest as an actor is to find these diverse characters and sink my teeth into them. That has happened recently with Monica, O My Darling or Valimai or even Tarla, for that matter.
Tarla Dalal has been part of the collective consciousness of this country. Growing up, I think all of us have seen our mothers buying her cookbooks and recreating her recipes. The most surreal experience for me while working in this film was that I was presented with a new copy of a Tarla Dalal cookbook which had me wearing a maroon sari and I remembered my mom having a Tarla Dalal cookbook in which she was wearing almost the same kind of sari in maroon on the cover! It was truly a surreal moment!
You have undergone quite a physical transformation for the role. What were the other things you had to imbibe and change to play her?
I am glad that the physical transformation is getting complimented. We were quite apprehensive about that because things like these can end up quite caricaturish or funny or not appropriate. I am much taller than Tarla ji and our facial structures don’t match at all. Obviously, we couldn’t do much about my height (laughs). What I had to do was capture the essence of Tarla Dalal. We have tried to imbibe the accent, the hand gestures, the movements... she never really had a distinct style of talking... she spoke in a very affable, sweet way.
She was an Everywoman with an extraordinary journey. She was a very simple lady. Hers was not the kind of face that you normally saw on television screens and on the cover of magazines. Even now, she is probably the most famous home cook-turned-chef we have had. These are the kind of heroes whose stories we should tell and celebrate. She was the OG entrepreneur. She was asked to get married and cook for the family, and instead of that weighing her down, she cooked her way out of it and made a name for herself that has gone down in history. Having multiple cookbooks, a TV show, male assistants, which was unheard of in the ’70s... she was a Padma Shri awardee.... it’s an incredible story! She was a gentle feminist who just walked her walk and talked her talk and inspired so many people in the process.
Ever since the impact of Maharani, how have you seen the nature of offers that come to you change?
I am getting to now do a lot of author-backed parts and female-led roles... something that I have always aspired to do. I will start filming the third season of Maharani... it’s been a huge turning point for me. Makers now have the confidence that I can carry a whole show on my shoulders.
Was playing the femme fatale in Monica, O My Darling an attempt to shake things up?
I loved doing Monica, O My Darling! I am a ’90s kid who grew up on films like Bollywood masala, music, gangsters... I really enjoy this kind of stuff. Unfortunately, we don’t have many makers who are doing that kind of stuff now. Even if they are, very few are coming my way. I really like the kind of pulpy world we had in Monica, O My Darling. I want to constantly shake things up and keep doing madcap kind of stuff like that.
As an actor, I am dying to be part of old-school dramas, gangster films... those old period films. There is something very beautiful about that genre. If an opportunity like that comes, I will jump at it.
Is there an intent to create your own content?
A hundred per cent. I think it is a natural progression, and so many female actors today are doing that. Even if we just look at the last two years, whether it’s on OTT or theatrical for that matter, people are now producing and acting in their own content. I come across scripts very often that I want to back but they need the right people to make them. It’s very empowering to be able to do that. As female actors, we often complain about the short shrift we give. Such opportunities give us the chance to change the narrative.
How much are female actors in Hindi films being given agency on screen and off it?
See, we still have things like pay parity which has not been addressed. We are not paid as much as our male counterparts and that’s a fact. That’s because the old guard, whether it’s in theatrical or OTT, remains more or less the same. It’s systemic for people to be that way, but what’s the reason, what’s the logic? I know for a fact that if a male actor of the same level as me were to do an action film and if I were to do an action film, he would get a bigger budget for his film purely because he is a man and there is some kind of historical thinking attached to it that female action films don’t get an audience. But my question is: how many action films led by female actors have we made?!
People have to make them in the first place to know if they work or not...
Exactly! Make them, na! One has to create a genre and then compare. One can’t do one film and say: ‘Arre, yeh chalta nahin hain.’ That’s not the way to do it. Just female actors voicing their opinion doesn’t work. We need the male actors, the executives, the decision-makers, the producers to decide and act on it.
The audience is, anyway, hardly going to theatres. So maybe a rethink is sorely needed on all counts....
The pandemic changed viewing patterns across the world, we have to be cognisant of that. We have to start making new stories. If we keep rehashing old ideas and thinking that they will work, then they won’t. It’s a completely new world now, a completely new reality. Economically, socially, politically, psychologically... so much has changed. We will have to start relooking at the stories we put out... outdated stuff will not work anymore. People are sitting at home and watching global content... the overall watching IQ of the audience has gone up. People are expecting so much more.
Would you say that you are most comfortable in your skin now?
Professionally, yes. I have become chill! (Laughs) Coming from Delhi and getting into a profession like this was a bit scary because I had no family, no one to guide me. I have made mistakes, I have taught myself on the job. I think I have done okay. I am just working now, I am not trying to overthink or over-plan. I am not second-guessing myself constantly. I am just chill!
My favourite Huma Qureshi role is... Tell t2@abp.in
