Huma’s History Lesson

Huma Qureshi doesn’t let grass grow under her feet. Even as she celebrated the writing of a superheroine novel, and the third season of her iconic SonyLIV series Maharani, she is off shooting the second season of Mithya, where she plays a teacher in a boarding school. Ever since she first appeared on the screen in Gangs of Wasseypur in 2012, Qureshi has made her place in the tough and exacting world of Mumbai cinema. She’s had her struggles with weight, with being an outsider, with not settling for just any role, and has emerged with a body of work in cinema and streaming she can be proud of. Zeba: An Accidental Superhero, her first work of fiction, is just like her. Unique and individualistic, about a spoilt rich brat who grows up in New York but belongs to an ancient land, Khudir, with traditional mores where women are no more than eye candy for private pleasure. Zeba, her heroine with an unusual superpower, is here to show men their place. This of course, is in a story that is in keeping with the unspoken ethos of much of Qureshi’s work—showing young women of her faith that modernity is possible without completely sacrificing tradition. “I allowed the book to write itself,” says Qureshi, who says she dislikes a world with cookie cutter characters. “The real world has complex issues and even good people have grey edges. And every truth has an equal and opposite falsehood,” she adds. Her superhero wears a hijab and a cape, and is set in the two decades between 1980 and 2000s. “That was when I was growing up, I was watching the news, and my world view was forming,” she says. “I don’t know all the answers to the burning questions of the day. But civil liberties, education and healthcare are the bare minimum we can agree we all need. And yet these basics are not provided to a lot of people.” Qureshi, who studied History Honours at Gargi College at Delhi University, is a reader and brings her fierce intelligence and devouring of books such as Ruby Lal’s Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan to reimagine the harem in Zeba as not merely a place of intrigue as male historians did but as the site for power moves. Originally a 10-page pitch for the TV show, Zeba grew as she wrote pages and pages during the Covid lockdowns. Zeba also features an actor with a rather well developed libido, called RK aka My Bollywood Hottie. “My words and my craft are my legacy,” she says. “And I want to have the courage to be joyful.”

Ranjit on the Red Carpet

One of the greatest triumphs of Nisha Pahuja’s documentary To Kill a Tiger was at the Oscars when Ranjit, his wife and daughter, the three protagonists of the documentary, were able to attend the event and the pre and after parties. Although, To Kill a Tiger lost out in the Best Documentary race, the farmer from Jharkhand was able to take his closest family to walk the red carpet, all because he had the moral courage to stand up for his daughter. As Pahuja wrote on her Instagram: “Ranjit was sad to not win but we reassured him that we all won the moment he and Jaganti and their amazing daughter refused to capitulate to a false shame. Thank you Ranjit Bhai for showing the world how it’s done. Your quiet resilience will now echo and inspire millions around the world. We are forever humbled and changed.” Pahuja wore a red gown with a Sabyasachi clutch and Ranjit wore a smart suit and tie, looking every inch the star that the film has made him.

Scene and Heard

Nitin Chandrakant Desai, the art director who passed away recently, was well known in the industry for creating universes for directors such as Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, 1999, and Devdas, 2002) and Ashutosh Gowariker (Lagaan, 2001, and Jodhaa Akbar, 2008). He was one of the few production designers who understood the challenges of working with directors with a specific visual language. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognised him in the In Memoriam section, along with other greats such as Glenda Jackson and Tom Wilkinson. It’s more than what has been done for him in India. The segment featured Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and his son Matteo performing a moving rendition of “Con te partirò” (“Time to Say Goodbye”) but it wasn’t enough to satisfy everyone. The segment left out director Terence Davies and Treat Williams (seen as recently as CBS founder Bill Paley in Feud: Capote vs the Swans).

BollywoodcinemaHuma QureshiNisha PahujaNitin Chandrakant Desai