Huma Qureshi Isn’t Choosing Sides

The set looked less like a shoot and more like a proclamation. Sculpted couture gleamed under the lights, her hair pulled back with intent, her gaze unflinching. Huma Qureshi wasn’t being photographed; she was orchestrating the frame. This isn’t a woman asking for attention — it’s one daring you to keep up.

That presence has been a decade in the making. The Delhi theatre graduate spotted in a Samsung ad became Anurag Kashyap’s surprise find in Gangs of Wasseypur. She’s since played a dystopian mother in Leila, a political heavyweight in Maharani, and a Hollywood fighter in Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead. In 2025, she returns not just as an actor but as a producer, premiering Bayaan at the Toronto International Film Festival.

“It really wasn't a project that had any kind of safety net or like a big studio attached to it. However, I truly believed in the story, so I went with my own conviction. And hence, attaching myself as an executive producer on the project just seemed like a natural corollary because without my support in understanding how a project of this size could be mounted and taken globally, I would need to be involved at that level.”

The Long Game

Bollywood still obsesses over Friday numbers; Qureshi is playing longer. “I definitely want to be seen, hopefully by the end of my career as a cultural icon, as an actor with a body of work that impacted culture, popular culture, that impacted how we see stories.”

That’s why she doesn’t cling too tightly to milestones. “Rani Bharti definitely will be something I'll always be remembered by. Just the way I'll always be remembered by Gangs of Wasseypur, that girl in that 20-minute part who kind of broke out on the scene. Each of these will always stay with me. But I take it as a challenge, and every few years I reinvent myself and keep doing characters and parts which don't restrict me as an artist.”

Where others preserve a single image, Qureshi burns hers down every few years. It isn’t restlessness. It’s survival — and strategy.

Fashion as Rebellion

On this shoot, fashion was armour, but she insists it’s also the truth. “My style choices, yes, they are intentional. Yes, they are bold. What story am I trying to tell at this stage of my life and career? I think the story I'm trying to tell, or rather express, is just being myself, being authentic. I've started using fashion as an extension of my personality, my thought process, what I'm feeling at the moment, and what art I'm creating.”

And she won’t accept the idea that grit and glamour cancel each other out. “If that requires me to go de-glam or gritty, so be it. Having said that, I also enjoy doing high-glam roles because the power of makeup, the power of fashion, the power of a woman's sensuality is also something very, very powerful. And I think I don't need to choose in 2025. As a woman, I shouldn't be asked to choose between the two. So if that makes me versatile, so be it.”

Bollywood loves binaries — commercial vs indie, glam vs raw. Qureshi’s refusal to play along is what makes her dangerous in the best way.

Producing Without Apology

Call it a power move if you like. She won’t. “I didn't see it like a power move, to be honest. I saw it more like a need of the hour. There are stories that we believed in, that we wanted to make. And of course, there was a lot of fear because it's not easy producing films, and we are, I guess, first-generation producers who are trying this out. But we've gotten so much love and support that we're thinking, why didn't we do this earlier? So yes, producing is very, very empowering.”

Her focus is outward. “It's very important to create opportunities for others. Now, whether I fit into them or somebody else does as a face of it is actually inconsequential. I just want to tell our stories — culture, songs — and take them globally.” It’s not star power she’s chasing, but story power.

Global Stage, Local Spine

Few actors move this seamlessly — Cannes with Wasseypur, Berlin with Viceroy’s House, Hollywood with Snyder, and now Toronto with Bayaan. “I've always tried to do something that is not just dependent on the Indian box office. There's so much more today that Indian actors can do globally. I want to tell our folklore, our culture, our history, our tradition, our music.”

Yet even at festivals abroad, she feels Delhi tugging at her. “That girl does seem very much a part of me. Once every day, I feel a little uncentred, and the imposter syndrome kicks in. Just this last month has been so exciting with both TIFF and Busan in the same month, travelling with a film and talking to so many people. But my Delhi theatre roots, the Saleem kebabs, the early audition days, they all made me who I am. So whenever I get very scared, I look back and I feel like a little girl again, and I go like, okay, she figured it out and reached here. Maybe I can figure this out and reach somewhere else.”

The Fight That Remains

Her arc might look like a success manual, but she doesn’t pretend the industry is fixed. “I don't think there are enough parts for women. We still have to fight for our space in a lot of the big machismo movies. The change is there, definitely. I'm very glad and fortunate to be part of that wave. But I think a lot more needs to happen.” And she passes that lesson on. “We should not be afraid to stand out and to speak our mind and to be bold. And being bold is actually a compliment. Just believe in yourself and don't be afraid to be original because that's what really matters.”

She names this phase plainly. “This new chapter would be called onwards and upwards. And how would I like to be remembered a decade from now? As someone who just never gave up and just kept wanting to do more and more and kept aspiring for more and refused to take no for an answer or refused to be boxed.”

And if you strip away the industry labels? “I would like to be known as a nomad, a gypsy, explorer, adventurer, dreamer. The list goes on and on.”

As does she…

ELLE India Editor: Ainee Nizami Ahmedi; Photographer: Abheet Gidwani; Stylist: Who Wore What When; Asst. Art Director: Alekha Chugani; Makeup: Ajay Vishwasrao; Hair: Alisha Lloyd Monteiro; Jr. Bookings Editor: Anushka Patil; Words by: Kannagi Anaggh Desai; Artist Reputation Management: Think Talkies