'Being a B'wood actor is lot more than being just size zero'

In an industry focused on body image and what a female actor ought to look like, Huma Qureshi is one of the few to have bucked the trend. Not only has the actor experimented with roles, but she has often gained weight and looked a certain way for many of her projects. In a recent interview, the actor took a slight dig at the size zero obsession in Bollywood, saying there was much more to being a Bollywood heroine than that.

Huma Qureshi's latest film, 'Double XL' is a humourous take on body image issues and body shaming, in which she and Sonakshi Sinha play two plus-sized women. The film, directed by Satramm Ramani, also stars Zaheer Iqbal and features cricketer Shikhar Dhawan in a cameo in what is his first film appearance. Sonakshi and Huma have been promoting the film in various interviews of late.

During a recent interview with a popular entertainment news portal, Huma was asked her message for 'girls who think size zero is the way to enter films', to which she responded, "Not at all! If this film, our careers or many other women before or after us are anything to go by, they are not. It's your talent and hard work. If you want to be a Hindi film actor, there is a lot more to it than being just size zero."

Size zero refers to the size in the US size chart which is equivalent to an extra small elsewhere. It generally refers to clothing for a woman with a 23-inch-waist. Size zero has long been considered a 'requirement' for mainstream female models in the West and India as well. The term gained popularity in India in the 2000s after Kareena Kapoor shed weight and reportedly became a size zero for her 2008 film 'Tashan'.

Many female actors like Huma, Vidya Balan and Sonakshi Sinha have questioned the need to look a certain way on the camera and refused to adhere to this 'size zero obsession'.