EXCLUSIVE: Huma Qureshi comments on entourage culture from a producer’s POV; sheds light on importance of social media

Huma Qureshi is an actress who primarily appears in Hindi-language films. Her accolades include a Filmfare OTT Award along with nominations for three Filmfare Awards. Her career progressed with roles in the horror film Ek Thi Daayan. While promoting their recently released web series Mithiya 2, Naveen Katuria and Huma Qureshi sat down for a quick chat with Bollywood Bubble, where the actress comments on entourage culture from a producer’s point of view and on the importance of social media.

Naveen Kasturia and Huma Qureshi on social medi presence

When asked if social media presence is important to stay relevant, Naveen Kasturia said, “Mine is social media; I think to each of his own, yes, it is a pressure. If asked, yes, actors especially feel under pressure. You know they have to be relevant and post things every day, but yeah, it’s adding a lot of pressure. But haan, the entire social media thing referring to social media presence is a myth. People are dependent on their followers, and they are cast according to this.“

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He added, “Abh use, kai baar bade stars tweet karte hai about their films, and unke filmain flop ho jati hai. Toh use toh farak hi nahi padh rah ahai I feel, ki aapka social media presence kitna bada hai. Aur newcomers ki filmain bhi jaise, Munjya hit hai shayad, and they’re like new people, right? So who myth hi shai ki social media pe bada hona bahut zaruri hai, to be an actor in films?”

To this Huma adds, “I kind of agree with him, that just because social media is important, it’s not the be-all and end of everything. That’s all.”

Huma Qureshi on entourage culture

Speaking about how producers are burned with entourage culture, Huma Qureshi said; “I got entourage. I am sure it is alluding to the actors’ entourage, etc. I mean, since I am on the production side, I just want to say this: whenever we do our films, you know we try and make sure that everybody gets paid well, but never overly. And I think in my own life, at least I try and practice that because I feel like sometimes you hear stories where costs are just going through the roof and that burden often falls on the producer. I think turning producer has made you aware and realize that these are not showing up on the screen; actually, it’s not that important.”

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Naveen Kasturia on nepotism

When asked if Naveen Kasturia has ever encountered nepotism, to which he said, “I have got nepotism. See toh, I kind of feel that agar aapke paas power hain, aur aapka beta hero bana chahta hai, toh aap banaaoge naa usko? I feel that if you have the power and money, I think everybody will do that. So that’s part of the world, yaar; it exists, aur mujhe lagta hai kaaiyon ko. More than nepotism, I feel favouritism exists. And it exists everywhere; log kehete hain networking karo and log relationships banwaate hai to work with them. So if I talk about myself again, my first film happened because I met this guy on the sets of LSD.”

Naveen concluded, “So we became friends, and then he wrote Sulemaani Keeda, and I got the film. Then I shifted with a guy called Biswapati Sarkar, who is the writer of Pitchers. You know, toh mujhe abhi toh nepotism pata nahi hai lekin. I knew these guys, so maine use baar baar bola; that’s how Pitchers happened to me. Abh mujhe aisa lagta hai ki if I keep auditioning, if I keep meeting people you know, of course, talent akela hi kitna work karta hai, I don’t know. Buy yeh hai, it’s a part; it exists everywhere. And I think I don’t think nepotism is unjust or unfair—it’s just how things work.”

Watch the full interview

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