Mumbai: Actress Huma Qureshi, who debuted in Bollywood with Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur, says that she is a product of Anurag Kashyap. Huma, who was present on Tuesday for the promotional interviews of her upcoming film Partition: 1947, was responding to queries about the role of directors like Kashyap and Tigmanshu Dhulia in giving content driven cinema.
“I am a product of Anurag Kashyap’s cinema, he directed my debut film and I am glad that Gangs of Wasseypur was my first film. When I was working on the film I didn’t realize it then but the specialty of the film is that no matter where you are from you will enjoy the film and will be able to relate to it.
“I think in that sense that Gangs of Wasseypur was a perfect launch for me. It was dubbed in various languages and received international appreciation as well. As an actor, the film was very important for me because it gave a direction to my future journey,” said Huma.
On the scenario of content driven cinema and mainstream cinema, Huma said: “I think times are changing, audience is changing and cinema is changing.
You will notice that nowadays no films work because some names are attached to it, it works because the content is great.
“I think people also want to see something new. We are in a digital age and people can watch any content that is available all around the world in any language.
I think the time has come to watch and to make interesting films with stories that people will love to watch. And the box office also supports such films now which is great news.”
Asked about which kind of kind of roles or films she prefers, Huma, who has done variety of roles in films like Dedh Ishqiya, Ek Thi Dayan, Jolly LLB 2 and Dobaara: See Your Evil, said: “I like doing challenging roles and different characters.
I try my level best to make sure I am doing something new or different, it doesn’t matter if it’s my first film or last.
“This was a challenging film for me. The film has now been dubbed in Hindi for the Indian audience, and I really think people will appreciate the hard work that we have done for this period film.”
On the ongoing censor board debate, Huma said: “Certification is necessary and as much as I understand, the censor board is suppose to certify the film and not dictate what people can watch. We are not a regressive society, I think Indian culture is very progressive, may it be our literature or our movies, we are making amazing films and we will continue to do it in future.
People in the west love our films, our actors and we are moving forward.”
Partition: 1947 marks Huma’s international debut. She was last seen in Jolly LLB 2 and her future projects include a Tamil film titled Kaala directed by Pa. Ranjith. Partition: 1947, presented by Reliance Entertainment, will release in India on August 18.
IANS