Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; February 9, 2015)

Varun Dhawan and Yami Gautam are on a publicity blitzkrieg for Sriram Raghavan’s upcoming thriller, Badlapur, but strangely their co-star Huma Qureshi has been missing from the promotional activities.

Varun and Yami recently travelled to Amritsar and Chandigarh for the promotions. They were also part of a music reality show and have been spotted at various events in the city — all sans Huma.

Last month, Huma had visited a radio station to promote the film with co-stars Varun and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, but conspicuous by her absence at the film’s events.

Says a source, “She is prominently featured in the film’s trailer, but has been skipping the promotional events of late. She has not been giving any interviews either.” Adds the source, “When the film rolled, there was a lot of talk about which of the two actresses would have a bigger role. At that time, it was made to believe that Huma had a stellar role in the film. Now, however, the spotlight is on Yami which may not have gone down well with Huma.”

Huma’s spokesperson maintains it was a deliberate strategy on the makers’ part to keep her away from the film’s promotions, adding: “Her character is crucial to the plot of the film. It has been decided to keep it under wraps to up the suspense quotient.” The actress’ publicist adds that Huma has personally decided against speaking about her role and let the film speak for itself.