Huma Qureshi recently spoke about the challenges faced by women led films in Bollywood during her appearance at the Cannes Film Festival. The actress shared her views on how female oriented projects still do not receive the same financial support and large budgets that films with male stars usually get.
During an interaction with Brut India at Cannes, Huma spoke about the need for more original female focused stories in Indian cinema. She highlighted India’s cultural diversity, mythology, and storytelling traditions as strong sources for such narratives.
When asked if audiences have become more accepting of women centric films and whether more Hindi adaptations of female led projects could be made, Huma replied, “I hope we don’t do any remakes. I hope we do more original content. We have so much potential in our country to have our own kind of female forward narrative. We have such a diverse country. Look at our mythology, culture. Look at the stories that come from our country. I feel like the focus should be on that constantly.”
The actress also spoke openly about the industry’s perception that women led films have limited box office potential. According to Huma, this mindset still affects how such films are financed and promoted.
She said, “Honestly, if you ask me, it’s something that I am also going through or struggling with right now. Where we don’t get the kind of budgets that male movie stars get. There’s always that bias that female films have a certain box office potential.”
When asked whether this kind of bias still exists today, Huma answered, “Yes, definitely. Maybe people wouldn’t say it as much, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. And that’s something you have to constantly navigate.”
The actress added that female actors across the industry are continuously trying to push boundaries and improve opportunities for future generations. She explained, “But the only way to break that is to keep going through and just constantly keep working. And not just me, I feel so many of my female colleagues are constantly pushing that envelope and pushing hard to change the reality for not just themselves in their careers, but also for many others that will follow through.”
On the work front, Huma Qureshi will next be seen in Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups, directed by Geetu Mohandas*. The film stars Yash in the lead role along with Nayanthara, Kiara Advani, Tara Sutaria, Rukmini Vasanth, and Sudev Nair.