Despite big break in Bollywood, Huma Qureshi still a Delhi girl at heart

Her journey from a middle class Delhi family to the dream city of Mumbai is not less dramatic than a Bollywood story itself. Huma Qureshi, a former student of Gargi College, got her big break in Anurag Kashyaps latest venture Gangs Of Wasseypur and also won accolades at recently held Cannes fest for her performance. Despite coming to Mumbai three years back to pursue her Bollywood dreams, Qureshi is still very much a Delhi girl. Telling about her transition from an 'enthu cutlet' in Delhi theatre to an Anurag Kashyap heroine, Huma said, I come from a very large family and all of us are very theatrical people, we are as loud and gregarious as Dilliwaalas can get. Some of my acting comes from there as well. Throughout school and college, I was always drawn towards the performing arts. I didn't know what I wanted to do in life, but I knew ki iss cheez mein mazaa aata hai. She added, Once I started college, I started doing theatre more professionally and more seriously. Not just acting, I was doing a lot of other things. I would be the first one to arrive, doing jhaadu pochha, lights, whatever. That's how the interest started, and I even wrote and directed plays. I have been one of those active enthu cutlets, like they say in Delhi, always very eager to work. However, when she first revealed about her dreams, her father threw a fit. When I said I wanted to be an actress, when I had this maha conversation with my parents that this is what I want to do. My dad threw a fit. He was like, 'you're nuts. You've lost the plot. Tumhara dimaag kharaab ho gaya hai. Take it easy. Go abroad, study, do something worthwhile'. My mum was like, 'get married'. Finally, my dad told me to go and give it a shot. He said, 'we'll support you for a year, if it doesn't work out, we want you to come back and pick up your studies once again'. Fortunately, things worked out. It took me six-eight months to get into the groove of Mumbai, but the first commercial I did was with Abhishek Bachchan, which was a really big deal. And once that started playing, and my parents saw it, they were just so happy, the starlet said.