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Huma Qureshi started her Bollywood journey by starring in edgy, unconventional films but even she had doubts about signing Sriram Raghavan’s ‘Badlapur’ as the actress felt it was “too dark” and “hard-hitting”.
“The only reason I said yes was because of the team and how everybody believed in it. I was the third actor to join the movie and I was really scared. We had a big discussion about should I, shouldn’t I or will it be too much or too dark. I have been a part of edgy films earlier but ‘Badlapur’ was quite hard-hitting,” Huma told PTI in an interview.
Huma, 28, is one of the four actresses in the Varun Dhawan-Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer revenge drama. Though her presence is limited to 5-6 scenes in the movie, Huma has earned a lot of praise for her performance.
The actress said film’s success has come as a big relief for everyone involved in the project, but particularly for Varun Dhawan, who shed his romantic image to play anti-hero.
“The next big risk was definitely Varun playing something like this. It was an unfamiliar territory for him. We used to think whether the audience will accept him as this guy or not. It was a bigger risk for him than anyone else. He has done a fabulous job in pulling it off.
“Initially, we all were apprehensive about the film but with time as people started coming in, we started becoming more confident. Hats off to Sriram that at no point he thought of softening the content because of our doubts,” she said.
Huma, who played the role of a sex-worker, said it was not easy to portray the nuances of Jhimli in such a short span.
“It is one of the most difficult characters I have done. It was complex and a lot had to be said in a small duration. In my first 3-4 scenes I literally had to take the audience inside my life and make then feel when something bad happened to me,” the actress said.
One thing, which, however, came easy to Huma in ‘Badlapur’, was her pairing with Nawazuddin as she had earlier played his romantic interest in ‘Gangs of Wasseypur- 1 and 2′.
Acknowledging her chemistry with the actor, Huma said, “When we first worked with each other, people had doubts but they found it fascinating later. It was great working with him again. He is a fabulous actor. He emotes through his eyes. He puts you at ease while doing a scene.”
The actress, who is enjoying the media attention post the release of ‘Badlapur’, says staying away from pre-release promotions of the movie was a deliberate strategy.
“It was a conscious decision not to promote the film because questions like ‘how was it shooting bold scenes?’ would have come up and they would have taken the focus away from the film and cheapened our attempt.
“Yes, there are disturbing scenes and we are talking about them in the film but the idea was not to titillate viewers. Also, we wanted to add to the mystery of the role so I was not there in the promotions,” she said.
‘Badlapur’ has seen some criticism coming its way for the violence depicted against women and Huma is happy that people have raised questions.
The actress said the film did not propagate violence against women but the makers wanted audience to ponder on how women are always dragged in a fight between two men and how evil a revenge-seeking man can become.
“I am really glad people are watching the film and saying this. I think our job’s done really. You can write a moral tale or how everything can be hunky dory but that will not change anything.
“Sometimes, as actors you have to explore the other side. And maybe that will inspire people in a way not to do that. Women are treated wrongly and ‘Badlapur’ is a reflection of what we do. It is showing a mirror,” she said.
