Huma Qureshi on breaking beauty standards with her movies

Mumbai: Bollywood actress Huma Qureshi is known for not only her movies and acting skills but also her unconventional beauty standards. She has no qualms to do movies like Double XL and Monica, O My Darling which are set up to break beauty norms.

In her upcoming film Double XL, Huma is playing a girl next door who faces discrimination and rejection because of her body weight. Monica, O My Darling demanded that she channel the oomph factor. With both films being shot back to back, the 36-year-old struggled with her body image.

She had originally planned to gain weight for Double XL and then lose that weight for Monica, O My Darling. However, she later decided that she does not need to lose weight to play a glamorous woman.

Being the producer of Double XL, Huma said the point of such a film was to shatter notions of how weight is equated to beauty and desirability. "When I was all set to play a femme fatale, why was I succumbing to the rules made by society and not feeling beautiful in my own skin? I have realised that feeling and looking sexy is not because of the clothes you wear or because somebody weighs a certain weight."

"It's all about feeling confident and believing that one can look glamorous if one feels glamorous. Patriarchy and society condition us into believing that a girl who weighs a certain weight is not beautiful or glamorous. It's high time we do away with these notions. Also, I felt that since I was from an industry where glamour is an essential aspect of the profession, the message coming from me might help other girls who obsess over their weight, feel differently about themselves," she added.

Double XL will hit the theatres on November 4. And Monica, O My Darling will start streaming on Netflix on November 11. Her retro dance number paying tribute to iconic dancer Helen has already garnered praise.