It's an exciting time for female artists in cinema: Huma

Actress Huma Qureshi believes that it is an exciting time for female artists in cinema. He says that there has been an interesting shift in the way storytellers are approaching women characters on screen.

“In recent years, we are seeing more such (women-centric) films, the new term is female-led films. For me, it is not the female-led films that are creating a sense of empowerment," she said.

The actress further added, "Today, when I read a script, the character of the girl is not just contributing towards the hero’s journey or is not someone waiting for the war hero to return home. Rather, we think why can’t a girl go on the border? So, that shift in the way we are approaching stories, and storytelling has come about. There are many other colleagues of mine, who are saying give us more to do,” the 36-year-old actor said here on Friday."

Huma was participating in a panel discussion on 'The role of media and entertainment in empowering women'. The conversation was part of a special segment ‘Her Story, Her Voice’ organised by Netflix and the National Commission of Women.

Huma said Alia Bhatt’s Darlings, a dark comedy, and the 2020 drama Thappad, headlined by Taapsee Pannu, are some of her recent favourite films that broke the stereotypes in terms of storytelling.

“When I saw that film (Thappad), I was like, I wish I had done the film but Taapsee did a wonderful job and Anubhav (Sinha, director) sir directed a beautiful film,” she said.

The love and appreciation Thappad, also starring Pavail Gulati, Kumud Mishra, Dia Mirza, and Ratna Pathak Shah, received from audiences made her happy.

“In a country where domestic violence is quite prevalent to talk and fight about, one ‘Thappad’ in itself and we know how conventional theatrical business runs, like who will watch this film? This is a bundle idea and this is how people talk. But the film to come and to do well at the box office, it gave me a lot of heart,” she added.