Shorts not made for box office: Huma Qureshi

The Gangs of Wasseypur actor talks about her experience in being part of a short film.

MUMBAI:

Huma Qureshi, who features in one of the stories in Shorts, says the film has already received so much acclaim that its box office performance is not being thought about.

Shorts is a compilation of five short films helmed by five directors; Neeraj Ghaywan, Shlok Sharma, Siddharth Gupta, Anirban Roy and Rohit Pandey.

Co-produced by Guneet Monga and Anurag Kashyap, the film will see the Gangs of Wasseypur trio — Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Qureshi and Richa Chadda — teaming up again. The film’s cast also features Satya Anand, Preeti Singh and Ratnabali Bhattacharjee.

“We haven’t made this film for the box office. These are new directors, fresh talent, and we are also new-age actors, so the idea was to create some new cinema, new thoughts, and new films,” said the 26-year-old.  “In fact, most of the films in Shorts have received awards; I have got an award, Shlok has [also won an award].”

“The film is gathering a lot of international acclaim. That’s why it’s being released in select theatres only,” she added.

The five short films are titled Sujata, Epilogue, Audacity, Mehfuz and Shor.

Huma further said that the idea behind Shorts is to create a new breed of actors and directors who have an interesting way of looking at things.

When asked about the difference between a short film and a feature film, Huma said, “A feature is a much longer and dedicated sort of commitment. A short [film] is, in terms of time, much shorter.”

“But what you have to portray within those 10 to 15 minutes is the main thing. So there’s actually a lot of pressure in doing a short film,” she added. “You have to tell an entire story and the journey of a character and make people move and believe in those 10 to 15 minutes. That’s quite a challenge.”

Shorts is scheduled to release on July 12.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2013.

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