Huma Qureshi
Going the bold way somehow has a very negative connotation in Bollywood.
Whether it was 'Gangs Of Wasseypur' or whether it's 'LSTCK,' the characters are real, and when you see them on screen, you can identify with them.
I agree that I am different from others. I am not trying to fit in someone else's shoes. I am being honest to myself.
The audience is loving me the way I am, and that's most important.
I just know that if your work is good, good work follow.
Every girl brought up in the '90s would idolise Madhuri and would want to work with her. I'm just happy that I've been able to achieve that.
I am bored of the 'Gangs of Wasseypur' image.
I'm still in awe of Madhuri. I've grown up watching her movies, and to see her in a film like 'Dedh Ishqiya,' which is quite unlike her previous work, was wonderful.
I think you don't have to be size zero to prove yourself... to connect with the audience.
In school, I was always a fat girl. No matter how thin you are, but girls always have this thing in mind that I am a little fat.
I remember, during an ad shoot, Anurag said to me that you are doing my film, and I was wondering do we really get films so easily. I thought you have to struggle and all. But he kept his word and offered me 'Gangs Of Wasseypur.'
After 'Gangs,' people thought that I couldn't speak a sentence in English or that I don't wear jeans or, you know, I am a city girl.
Maybe at 55, I would like to direct. I will go the Angelina Jolie way.
Co-directing is not possible with my brother. We have very different opinions.
As a middle class girl from Delhi, with practically no backing in films, this industry and the audience have given me a lot of love.
No one likes it when their personal life is talked about, and I am no exception. But I guess it's the price an actor has to pay for being in the public eye.
I believe in content. Just looking pretty next to the hero gives me no joy. I believe I have more to offer than that.
I believe in equal pay for equal work. Gender, race, skin colour, or ethnicity should not be the parameters to hire someone or to decide how much they should be paid.
For me, growth and empowerment are about giving a woman a choice.
What I miss most about Lucknow is its chaat.
One thing we need to learn from the West is how professional they are about their work. A 7:30 A.M. call time means just that. That's something we need to imbibe from them. And people in the West need to learn from us how we work with our stories.
Indian actors are afraid to go and work abroad because people are very professional over there. In India, we have become very lazy. Everything happens slowly, and as per God's will. A 9 A.M. call time means we start working at whatever time we wish.
If I'm playing an Indian in a Hollywood film, I won't do it in any funny Indian accent.
I have always said that Twitter is my forum to talk to people about what's happening in my life.
I wouldn't say that I haven't got my fair share of good roles. This industry has been very kind to me.
As an actor, I don't have an agenda. I don't have to prove a point; I am not a bastion of a particular brand of cinema. I am doing what makes me happy.
My parents gave me a strong sense of entitlement. And I use that in a very good way.
Cinema and cricket are two professions in this country that people have an opinion on.
I know that when you do similar kind of films, one after the other, people tend to stereotype and say, 'She is only good at this.'
I make it a point to pick films that tell you a story in an engaging way. I can't compromise on the content. The script has to be substantial and impactful.
I just cannot do a boring film. It has to be interesting with a good character.
Whether my film becomes commercially successful or not, only God can tell, or the box-office numbers. So why worry about it and get distracted?
It is a challenge to work away from India and with a cast and crew from all over the world. But it's also very gratifying, and you learn so much by just being with them.
As a member of the audience, when you see someone from your country working in an international project, your curiosity about that film increases manifold.
Collaboration between different parts of the world will bring us closer. From a business point of view, it opens up new markets as well.
There are a lot of people out there who are just bullies. They constantly keep telling you that you are too fat, too thin, your teeth are not fine, you can't speak English really well, and you are too short, etc.
The film is intended to unite people and not create division in the society. 'Partition' talks about peace and humanity.
Working with directors like Gurinder Chadha was a learning experience for me.
I grew as an actress, and I feel I gained a lot, whenever I have worked with any great director in the past.
As a woman, absolutely, I have had to deal with people making advances at me, but not just people from the business of film industry but people across different professions and different strata. I think it has a lot to do with power; it is not only limited to the film business.
In India and elsewhere in the world, the moment a woman speaks out against harassment, people sort of start making all sorts of character judgments about her, about her morality, about what she was wearing, and all such things, and I think that is not fair.
If a woman is saying something out loud, she is asking for help, and you have no business to character assassinating her. You have to reach out to her and help her and protect her, and I think we need to protect our women, and we need to protect our children.
A lot of issues that we have in the world today rise from the fact that we do not know enough about each other's cultures, that we don't respect each other's origins and there is so much negativity and strife around because we don't know where the other person is coming from.
The very fact that I got to work with Akshay Kumar was special.
I would love to do a biopic or a situational comedy.
I don't have any ego, and I will go and audition for parts if I'm offered an interesting script.
I have been told too much - to talk less, to keep my opinions to myself, to not sound intelligent - all this was told to me so that I could fit in. But I never thought I fit in anyway. So if you don't fit in, at least stand out.
I have always been cool and open about my body.
I am an insecure person. I have my own insecurities about lots of things, but I am pretty secure as an actor.