Some interviews take time to warm up, and there’s this one with Huma Qureshi.
She arrives for this Her Circle Originals conversation with Tanya Chaitanya already mid-story, mid-laugh, and fully ready to call out the absurdity that women still deal with in the industry.
Within minutes, she’s joking about early-career offers that made no sense.
“A filmmaker once offered me a third lead,” she says, raising an eyebrow. “He asked, ‘What are you even doing right now?’ And honestly, I wasn’t doing much. But that didn’t mean I’d do something I didn’t believe in.”
There’s a confidence to the way she says it. Not defensive. Not dramatic. Just Huma being Huma — playful, self-aware, and completely unwilling to shrink herself to fit someone else’s idea of who a heroine should be.
And that tone sets the rhythm of the entire conversation.
She’s laughing at outdated stereotypes one moment, dismantling them the next.
Ask Huma why her career feels different, and she doesn’t even take a second.
All women have substance,” she says simply. “All women are strong. But our representation doesn’t reflect that enough.”
She’s not interested in playing accessories.
“I don’t enjoy doing characters without agency. If I’m not taking the story forward, what am I even doing on set?”
“I can look pretty,” she says, half-joking, half-serious. “And I can do so much more. Why is this still treated like a choice?”
On Pay Parity In The Industry
When Tanya mentions the hesitation women have talking about money, Huma’s responds with clarity, “Stories are mostly written by men, about men, for men. They assume only men bring audiences, so men get paid more. And then women become accessories in the narrative.”
“But you can’t ask women to ‘bring numbers’ when you’re not even writing them as protagonists. Make stories about women, give them real agency, and watch what happens to that equation.”
She’s also quick to point out that change is happening, slowly, imperfectly.
Maharani, Leadership And The Power Of Asking
Then comes the moment her tone shifts into something warmer.
“The love I’ve got for Maharani has been phenomenal,” she says. “Rani Bharti taught me so much.”
Especially when it comes to leadership.
“She always asks,” Huma says. “Even when she doesn’t know the answer.”
She laughs remembering how she used to nod along in meetings, pretending to know what people were talking about.
“That’s what we’re taught, right? Don’t admit you don’t know something. Don’t take up too much space.”
Rani shattered that instinct.
“She walked into rooms full of policy and governance conversations with pure curiosity. No shame. No fear. Just questions.”
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“People called me ‘slightly plumpish’ in reviews,” she says, making air quotes. “One guy said I needed to lose five kilos to be a mainstream heroine.”
Instead of shrinking, she made Double XL.
“And suddenly everyone said I’d ruined my career,” she laughs. “As if being desirable is the only currency women have.”
The best part? She followed it with glamorous roles that were hits.
“It’s hilarious,” she says. “They warned me I’d never be accepted again. Spoiler alert: I was.”
By the time the conversation winds down, her energy is the same as when she walked in — fun, bold, and completely at ease in her skin.
She’s lived the highs and lows of an industry built on illusions, and she’s carved out a space that fits her, not the other way around.