Actor Huma Qureshi says it was liberating to headline a female-driven project with Leila as it is about time the trope of women being rescued by men on screen is done away with.
The actor features in the latest Netflix series Leila, which follows her character Shalini in search of her daughter Leila whom she lost one tragic summer.
Shalini deals with various hardships in the course of her search, in a story of longing, faith and loss.
The actor wonders if Shalini was not a woman and was a man instead, would the representation on screen change.
“I don’t know. That’s the question you’ve to constantly keep asking… But for me, it was absolutely enriching. I think it’s enough now, how long will you be rescued by the knight in shining armour? At what point can you start being the superhero in your own life?”
In an interview with PTI, the actor says there is inequality and repression of women “but where are our role models?”
“Where are people who look and talk like us but are yet (not represented cinematically)? We don’t have enough of those. Hence, as an actor, as a woman it was liberating.”
Co-directed by Deepa Mehta, Shanker Raman and Pawan Kumar, Leila is based on Prayaag Akbar’s book of the same name.
The 32-year-old actor says when the dystopian drama came her way, the series’ universal story appealed to her.
“No matter which part of the world you’re from, you’ll find something to identify with. That got me excited… “You are greedy as an actor and the greed is endless. You want to work with different people and learn from their experiences, you want to be a better actor and a better version of yourself. That’s also what resonated with me.” (PTI)
