Actress Huma Qureshi says she was once asked to change her name. In an interview, she said:
“I was asked to change my name, as there’s a Pakistani actor with the same name and [I was told] that I wouldn’t want that association, [more so] since I wanted to be the leading lady. I was like, ‘I am not going to do that. I will always be Huma Qureshi and people will have to deal with that.'”
The actress will share screenspace with Rajinikanth in Kaala. She makes her Tamil acting debut with this film.
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An established actress now, following films with Akshay Kumar and Madhuri Dixit, Qureshi recalled the time she’d go for casting sessions.“There would be days when I’d pack a dabba in the morning and head out. I remember this Gujarati aunty would pack my tiffin because I wanted to eat ghar ka khana. Casting agents would send us messages like, ‘Today’s look Indian or Western.’ And then, we’d pack a big bag with all our changing options and go to places that we hadn’t even heard of. Then we’d go and change in some dingy casting agent’s studio and give the audition. Sometimes we were rejected — you have to take all sorts of comments from people. It was hard, new, and challenging.”