Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone are my seniors, wrong to compare me with them:...

Priyanka Chopra started it, and others were quick to follow suit. Making a mark in the West seems to be a trend that’s fast picking up among Bollywood actors. Latest to join the league is actor Huma Qureshi, who has made her debut in Hollywood with filmmaker Gurinder Chadha’s Viceroy’s House. The film is slated to release in India on Independence Day, this year.

Ask her whether she planned working in a Hollywood film, Huma replies, “I’ve never planned my career. I’m an actor and wherever good work takes me, I’ll go there. I’m grateful for the script I chose and the character I played.”

While many Indian actors have worked in Hollywood, only a few actors such as Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, and now Huma, have managed to dominate the screen space with lead roles. Ask her about comparison and competition with her contemporaries in the West, who have become ambassadors of sorts of Indian cinema there, Huma says that whether it’s Bollywood or Hollywood, she is not participating in the rat race.

I am very proud of what they [Priyanka and Deepika] have done for themselves and for the country, so why get into any comparison?

“(Also), I feel it’s wrong to compare me with Priyanka or Deepika. I don’t see any competition with them, as they are very senior actors and I look up to them. I am proud of what they have done for themselves and for the country, so why get into any comparison?”

On whether she’s content about having joined the list of flag-bearers of Indian cinema internationally, Huma says that she never looked at it like that. “It’s not that just because everyone is doing something in Hollywood, so why should I be left behind and I must also do it. It’s your wish. If everybody is signing ten films in a year, I will never do that. I do films, which I really want to do and work with people that I want to,” says Huma.

The actor adds that she would only do meatier roles and not something for the heck of it. “If I’m doing a film in the West, it has to be something that’s worthy of doing. I’d not like to go [there] and do like a blink and miss part. So if I’ve picked a film, it’s because I really want to do it,” Huma says.