Deepali Singh (DNA; May 23, 2019)

Just a day after Huma Qureshi took off for the Cannes Film Festival, the trailer of her dystopian series Leila was released. While the actress was tight-lipped about the Netflix series directed by Deepa Mehta, which also stars Rahul Khanna and South actor Siddharth, she did mention, “I can only say I’m very excited. I can’t wait for people to watch the show!”

Calling Deepa a mentor, a guide and now, a friend, the Kaala actress exulted, “I love her! I have said this earlier, but I feel she’s really opened another chapter of my life for me as a performer and as an actor.” Observing that it’s easy for an actor to sometimes get lost and be affected by things around them, she added that Deepa has pushed her to be a better artiste and connect with her craft all over again. “She took me back to my authentic place as a performer,” she said.

While her previous film, Jolly LLB 2 (2017) was a hit, Huma admitted that she can’t take any credit for it. “It’s just that, as an actor, I took a conscious decision to do more meaningful work. And that kind of work is less and hard to come by,” she opined. It’s been a while since we saw the actress on the silver screen and the reason for that, she informed, is that she wanted to take a break to understand what she was doing.

“I want to do the right kind of stuff and that takes time, which is okay. I will sit at home and work on myself as an actor, as opposed to having two-three releases a year. I didn’t join the film business because I wanted to be famous, but because I enjoy acting. If I’m not enjoying my craft, and doing it because I’m getting money or I’m insecure, then I don’t want to do it,” added the 32-year-old.In her free time, Huma travels, reads and writes. “I have a lot of other interests which take my time, but as far as film work is concerned, it’s a sacred space for me. It’s always like ‘I want to work with this director or I want to do this kind of role.’ I’ve never been eager to work with stars. I always chase scripts and directors,” she concluded.