Huma Qureshi is no stranger to acting – she’s been around the Delhi theatre circuit – but she’s certainly finding the big screen an adjustment. “Films can make you insecure as an actor,” she said. The Gangs Of Wasseypur actor was in the city recently to participate in the Bangalore Fashion Week as a showstopper for designer Swapnil Shinde. “I’m very nervous,” she laughed, about her appearance on the ramp.
For Huma, the shift from theatre to film brings uncertainty. The immediacy of a theatre performance – and its reception by the audience – is unavailable for a film. “In films, you’ve done your performance. And then you come back and think, did I actually do it that well? Could I have said that line differently?”
But it seems all this doubt is unnecessary, at least for the moment: the actor recently witnessed a standing ovation for Gangs of Wasseypur at the Cannes Film Festival, and she has a slew of upcoming films, including the second instalment of the Anurag Kashyap film. Huma is enjoying it for the moment, and isn’t worried about losing the spotlight. “I think that’ll happen when I’m 40 films old and middle-aged,” she said.
Lack of immediate feedback aside, there’s another way she was challenged in her first film: Kashyap encouraged improvised performances. “My character and our relationship is completely improvised,” she revealed. The actors were given a scenario and a rough framework, and were told to see where it went. “It’s almost a guerrilla way of filmmaking.”
Huma is thrilled to have the debut she did, and especially appreciates the style of Gangs Of Wasseypur , seeing it as a fresh image in a time of what she says is visual homogenization. “Some films have the same colour palette….There’s no flavour. Gangs Of Wasseypur stands out amongst all the other films.”
In Gangs Of Wasseypur Part 2, Huma’s Mohsina is set to find extended screen-time; she thinks the first instalment only served as an introduction to the character. “But there are also one-liners and fun elements and dialogue- baazi ,” she said, adding that she doesn’t see her character’s role getting lost in the film. “For me, the relationship between Faizal and Mohsina is the emotional core of the film.” This, for her, is what ties the film together amidst the violence and blood – “all the necessary evils” to make the film what it is.
Huma’s upcoming projects include Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana , directed by debutant Sameer Sharma and said to be a “food film”. She’s also set to appear in a Vishal Bharadwaj and Ekta Kapoor-produced film, Ek Thi Daayan . “I hope people continue to employ me,” she said. But she’s also preoccupied with variety, with change. “The biggest reason I’m an actor is because I hate uniformity. I want to experiment. And when I say experiment, I don’t just mean changing my hairstyle.”
