Army Of The Dead Actress Huma Qureshi: "Proud To Have Come From Nowhere"

"I had to overcome a lot of things like everybody, like my own fear of success, how to pay my taxes, run a household, run my career and nobody was there to teach me," said Huma Qureshi

Actor Huma Qureshi says she is proud of the woman she has become after overcoming many personal challenges in her pursuit to become an actor. The Delhi-born actor is the daughter of Saleem Qureshi, the owner of the national capital's one of the most successful restaurants Saleem's, and homemaker mother Ameena Qureshi. Qureshi, who initially performed in a few theatre productions in Delhi before heading to Mumbai, said she had to overcome many things when she decided to leave home in 2008. "I had to overcome a lot of things like everybody, like my own fear of success, the fact that I came from a new city, had to learn how to make friends, how to pay my taxes, run a household, run my career and nobody was there to teach me," the 34-year-old actor, who made her debut with 2012's Gangs of Wasseypur films, told PTI in an interview. "Today, it has made me the woman I am today. I am very proud that I have come from nowhere. I am an independent woman, I run my own life. I have made my own identity and that gives me a lot of joy and pride. It makes my parents proud," she added. The actor plays a docile village woman who is handpicked to become the chief minister of Bihar in her upcoming web series Maharani. Calling her character of Rani Bharti in the Bihar-set series the "role of a lifetime", Huma Qureshi said writers and creators must come up with more well-rounded parts for female protagonists. "It doesn't have to always be about the woman, but there should be more fleshed out female protagonists. That is very important. Hence a role like Rani Bharti in 'Maharani' is exciting to do." The series, slated to start streaming on SonyLIV from Friday, is created by Subhash Kapoor, who previously directed the actor in Jolly LLB. Karan Sharma is the director. The story explores themes of patriarchy, something that women have to face everyday and in every field, the actor said. "Patriarchy is something that women have to deal with irrespective, it is there in the world, it has nothing to do with entertainment or politics or business." Qureshi said she gravitates towards "complex characters" and she found one in Rani. "She is a village woman, uneducated, illiterate, never travelled outside her village so she has all these things going against her. But she is also a little aspirational because she wants to take you on this journey like 'what would you do if you were a chief minister for a day?'" Maharani is rumoured to be inspired by Rabri Devi, the wife of former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav, who had assumed the chief ministership after he quit following an uproar over fodder scam in the 1990s.