"I Take Body Shaming With A Pinch Of Salt And Move On": Huma Qureshi

On her 37^th birthday, actor Huma Qureshi spoke about the transformation in the film industry’s perception of age, especially with regard to female actors. She urged people to see women beyond a mere shelf life," viewing age as nothing more than a number.

She pointed out how female actors face ageism more than male actors. She urged people to realise that women aren’t commodities to have a considerable shelf life and that it was an extremely sexist thing to perceive female actors that way because, with each passing year, actors become better; they grow and transform into better versions of themselves. She insisted that was how it should be seen.

Huma Qureshi On Ageism And Body Shaming

The actor who made her debut in Gangs of Wasseypur has donned several bold characters on the big screen. At a time when body shaming is at large and female actors are expected to fit into certain beauty standards in order to be "attractive," Huma Qureshi worked on Double XL, which discussed body positivity and self-love.

The actor revealed how the director of the film, Satram Ramani, had requested that she gain weight for the role, and she was binge-eating pizza and burgers even between shots. She held the unrealistic beauty standards prevalent in society that led to people, especially women, believing that only a certain weight and boy type was acceptable.

She also disclosed that she had been rejected for some roles in the past because of her weight. She even recalled being body shamed in a review of one of her films, quoting that someone wrote, "Too much weight to be a mainstream leading lady."

Qureshi also said that she believed in taking body-shaming remarks with a pinch of salt and moving on. Her decade-long journey in the film industry hasn’t been an easy one considering that she had to navigate through body shaming, gender bias, and age bias in the industry.

The Tarla actor said that at one point, handling online criticism became so difficult that she ended up wondering if something was terribly wrong with her. She admitted that she continues to be affected by negative remarks and trolling but said that she just takes it with a pinch of salt and moves on "because ultimately what matters is how she performs as an actor and the love she receives from the audience.

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