The third season of Netflix’s Delhi Crime is going to be released this month. The trailer of the show was unveiled on Tuesday, introducing Huma Qureshi as this season’s powerful antagonist Meena. In a conversation with Hindustan Times, Huma described the character as ‘exciting and dark’, which revealed what made her say yes to it.
Meena, aka Badi Didi, is a smuggler in Delhi Crime S3 who hardly has any redeeming qualities. Talking about her character, Huma says, “I don’t judge it.” “As an actor, when you play something, your job is not to judge.”
‘Am I playing a cop?’
In her career spanning almost one and a half decade, Huma has never played such a negative character. She recalls being offered the role, “When Tanuj (Chopra) and Apoorva (Bakshi, showrunner) approached me, I immediately said yes because I’m a huge fan of the franchise. I asked them, ‘Am I playing a cop?’ And he said no. I thought that since I played Rani Bharti (in Maharani), I would get such noble characters. But as an actor, I was excited because I had never played such a dark character.
For the first time, Delhi Crime has given the antagonist almost as much power and stature as the protagonist, DCP (now DIG) Vartika Chaturvedi (played by Shefali Shah). The season is designed as a face-off between the two, and Huma says the makers were doing this intentionally. “The way it was explained to me was, ‘It’s Batman vs. Joker,'” he said, laughing.
‘I want to be the most hated woman on the show’
Huma knows that this role will leave an impression on the audience and she hopes it is done in the right way. “I want to find love as the most hated woman on this show, because she does some pretty horrible things that I don’t approve of or stand for as a person,” the actor says.
Delhi Crime Season 3 also stars Rasika Duggal, Rajesh Tailang, Sayani Gupta, Meeta Vashishtha, Anshuman Pushkar and Kelly Dorjee. Directed by Tanuj Chopra, the popular show is returning to Netflix on November 13.
