Huma Qureshi on Maharani Season 2: ‘Rani Bharti is an inspiration from politician Rabri Devi’s life’

In conversation with Huma Qureshi on Maharani Season 2 and how the charter of Rani Bharti has evolved and she has become assured of who she is and her power. Huma is one of the first actresses who has bridged the east and the west with the digital platform. She refuses to be boxed and doesn’t want to be a part of the rat race for becoming the number 1 actress. She still stands by the fact that Rani Bharti is not Rabri Devi , but some part of it is inspired from her life. Excerpts from the interview:  How much has your role as Rani Bharti evolved from Maharani Season1 to Season2? When we started the journey with Rani Bharti she was a naïve housewife who was suddenly thrust with power and she didn’t know how to deal with the world of politics. It was difficult to know whether she would be able to navigate that space. Of course there was a lot of her being naïve, not knowing her place and not knowing how things run in politics. Though at the end of Season1 there was a big change in her attitude where she became a little more aware, a little more politically astute having taken some very strong stands and decisions. In Season 2, the viewers will realise that she is more assured of who she is, her place, her power and the decisions she will end up taking. How much research do you have to do on women in politics for the show Maharani? To be honest I didn’t have to do much research because everything was taken care of by the creator of the web show Subhash Kapoor and his team. They put in a lot of energy and time in the project. And   the whole team was also politically very aware. In terms of research, I was in extremely safe hands and leaned in heavily on their experiences. [caption id=“attachment_9662961” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Huma Qureshi in Maharani[/caption] Has the political scene in India become better now as compared to the past? Not just politics, my answer is that women’s role in general in society has improved. Is it the best that we can ever have, maybe not? But ‘yes’ there is definitely a shift and yes we have to just keep pushing the envelope. On being the first ones to work on the digital platform… When I did Laila, few years ago for a streaming platform, I had people coming and telling me, “Are you sure you want to do this? If you start working in this space, people will probably think that you don’t have any film work**.**” These were of course the earlier days and I remember being the first girl in a web show. Before that there were just one or two big shows which had just come out. And I wanted to be a part of web shows because I have been watching a lot of international content and I felt back then itself that there will be a shift in writing and content and that time itself I felt that the OTT boom will catch up in India as well. The pandemic accelerated the process. But I feel very proud that I was one of the first people to have done this. And I am happy to see there are so many beautiful roles written for women with strong storylines. We sort of created an eco-system for this to emerge. So, we are no longer just relying on a particular kind of story or narrative. There is scope and space for so much more. It’s a really exciting time for artists. I don’t know where it is going to go from here. But definitely as long as they are trying to tell powerful and enriching stories, the audience will continue to be interested in this platform. Look at the OTT actors and the ecosystem that it has created. It is absolutely amazing. OTT doesn’t put you inside boxes. How liberating is it to work on this platform? I refuse to be boxed. I refused to accept that I can only do this and not that and whenever I have been told that, I have gone and done something that is completely different. Even if you look at it this year at my work, you can understand that I have done a series to a mass Tamil film. Today the time and age we live in as a performer, we have access to put out our work to so many different audiences. Of course theatre will be my first love and I became an actor because of my love for the single screen magic. But definitely we are in such a beautiful time where there are so many new directors, new stories, new ideas that are floating around which I want to be a part of. I don’t want to restrict myself by doing only one thing. So, I refuse to be boxed whether it is genre, narrative style or platform. [caption id=“attachment_9632241” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Huma Qureshi in a still from Army Of The Dead | Netflix[/caption] You have been the first India actor who bridged the east and the west through the digital platform. How has OTT changed your life? Our world is shrinking. The month  Ármy of the Dead  released, I also had Maharani Season 1 released. That was such an exciting time and at the same time the problem of the plenty had happened. I remember sitting in my house and promoting the Army of the Dead through zoom interviews because of the pandemic.  Once I was seen giving interviews for the Ármy of the Dead and again the next moment I was giving interviews for Maharani Season 1. Web series were considered to be for the underdogs. When Maharani came out, SonyLiv was a platform that was just coming up. People were still discovering the platform, I was also like I didn’t know the platform, how is it going to be like. Then Subhash Kapoor sent the script and I had a zoom narration, I felt that the script was very interesting and I have not done anything like this. I just jumped into it. It was one of the shows which penetrated not only into the big cities, but also smaller towns. Television had made this culture to dump down anything to the audience which was not quality stuff.  That is why we are seeing the OTT boom because people are hungry constantly for better content. It has been a very rewarding journey with Maharani to be part of a show that is loved across the country. On choosing your roles. For me I am interested in having a filmography and I don’t want to be part of the rat race where I want to be the number one actress and where people are celebrating you as the number one actress. That’s not my trip at all. I want to work for the next fifty years. Similarities of Rabri Devi and Rani Bharti… The idea is to draw inspiration from her. The story is about a woman who is not from this world. We have taken some popular parts and put a spin to it. But I still stand by the fact that I am not portraying Rabri Devi. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. 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