*Spoilers Ahead for Baby Do Die Do*

There was a time when action ruled Indian cinema, and people flocked to theaters to watch their favorite stars beat the bad guys. But over time, the genre became more about style and less about high-octane action. However, Nachiket Samant's Baby Do Die Do brings the spotlight back to the action and takes viewers on a journey filled with epic action sequences, brilliant storytelling, and a masterful performance by Huma Qureshi. The film chronicles the journey of Baby, a deaf and mute woman who carries a much darker secret beneath the surface. The story turns her silence into one of the greatest weapons. At its heart, however, the movie is a story about trauma, revenge, and the possibility of choosing a life beyond hatred.

Huma Qureshi anchors the film with a performance that demands an unusual kind of restraint. Actors are known for using dialogue and vocal expression to elevate their performance. Stripped of these traditional tools, Huma builds her character through her eyes, body language, gestures, and silences. For an actor who is known for her vocal prowess and dialogue delivery, the role became a fascinating departure. In an exclusive interview with NetflixJunkie, actor Huma Qureshi opened up about the challenges she faced while playing a character like Baby, Baby's anger and agency, working across Indian and Hollywood productions, and why she believes audiences need to see more women who are the creators of their own destiny.

Aayush: The biggest revelation in Baby Do Die Do is that the woman we've been calling Baby is actually Didi, who has spent two decades living under her dead sister's identity. When you were playing her before the reveal, were you consciously playing Didi pretending to be Baby, or did you allow yourself to psychologically become Baby until the truth had to surface?

Huma Qureshi: Oh dear. I just love how you started this interview with a massive, probably the biggest spoiler ever! I hope whoever is going to watch this has seen the movie before watching this interview. No, yeah, I think I was fully Baby when I was playing this character. There are so many layers to this film. On the surface, of course, it’s a movie with action, thrills, human drama, and even a little bit of quirk. But beyond all of that, there’s also so much trauma. The trauma that Baby has grown up with, how she processes it, and how she lives with it. She’s such a heavy and broody character, and I’ve never really done anything like that before.

I’m a very chirpy, talkative person. I use my hands a lot; I’m very expressive. Anyone who knows me can testify to that. So for me to play such an introverted character, especially someone who doesn’t actually say a word for most of the film, and still be able to express everything through my eyes and body language, was a huge challenge. I don’t think that’s something that has been attempted in this way before. So for me, the most exciting part was playing a character who doesn’t rely on words at all. I think that’s also what makes this film so universal and why we really believe it can resonate not just in India, but globally as well. There’s something about her journey that people can connect with across cultures. And then, of course, there was the sign language, which I had to learn. I thought that was so much fun because we had to keep it very universal. My character operates in a world where everybody speaks, but she’s the only one who cannot speak or hear. So she has to communicate through gestures, and those gestures had to feel very natural and universal.

I really enjoyed picking up all these small details and putting them together to create this magical, very cool character. It’s honestly been such an honor playing Baby.

Aayush: You attended every script reading even though Baby has no conventional dialogue. Did listening to everybody else's dialogue become part of your preparation? Did you start thinking of Baby as someone who is constantly reading a room rather than participating in it verbally?

Huma: Oh, a hundred percent, a hundred percent. I think, anyway, for actors, listening is so important. You can always tell when an actor isn’t listening in a scene. You have to really listen to your co-star and to what’s happening around you, because only then can you respond- not react, but respond in a very real way. And I think, for me, that’s the biggest differentiating factor between good acting and bad acting, when you can tell that an actor is not really listening in the scene. So I had to listen doubly in this one, which was a lot of fun. But no, I think the challenge was also that, over the last few years, I’ve played a lot of characters where I’ve had to constantly change the way I speak. I’ve been experimenting with my speech quite a bit, whether it’s been Haryanvi in Delhi Crime, Bihari in Maharani, or Gujarati in Tarla. I’ve just been having a lot of fun with it.

I think changing the way I speak also changes the way I approach and perform a character. So with this one, the fun for me was asking myself: What if I take away my most important tool as an actor, which is the power of my speech? Will I still be able to hold your attention? Will I still be able to keep a thought in motion? Will I still be able to move people? Will I still be able to engage them? Will they still be cheering for me? And that was really exciting for me to explore.

Aayush: You've played characters who rely heavily on dialogue, from Rani Bharti in Maharani to Monica in Monica, O My Darling. Did Baby make you realise how much of your acting had previously been built around language?

Huma: A hundred percent. Listen, as actors, that's our primary tool, you know, just language and speech and pauses and intonation and accents and all of those things. So what if you just took, like, that away completely? It was a massive challenge, but I was so excited to do it. And I think the idea was that Nachiket's (the director) really wanted me to, you know, play this deaf and mute character. And I really hope I didn't disappoint him.

Aayush: The film surrounds Baby with Mumbai's trains, rain, traffic, and music, even though she cannot hear them. Did you and Nachiket ever discuss whether the audience should experience the city differently because of her sensory perspective?

Huma: I think the approach was always to depict Mumbai in a way that hadn’t been done before. The visuals that we decided on, along with Tojo, our DOP, were very neon-y, very dark, and very different. I don’t think Mumbai has been shot or depicted quite like this before, and that was a very conscious decision. The monsoons were also an important character in the film, as was the red umbrella. It becomes a recurring theme throughout the film because, of course, her gun is hidden inside that red umbrella. It could look like the most harmless thing on a busy Mumbai street, but it’s actually her choice of weapon, her secret weapon.

All of these things came from the fact that we really love Mumbai. We love the city, we love the hustle and bustle, we love the madness, we love the pace, we love the bheed, we love the people. And I think the idea was: what if this killer uses that crowd, that bheed, to her advantage? How does she stay in stealth mode and navigate through all of it without being noticed? That was very fascinating to me, and to Nachiket and, of course, Sakle as well. So we were constantly thinking, okay, how do we create some magic out of the city and make Mumbai itself feel like a very important character in our film?

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Aayush: The film uses silence not only because Baby cannot speak, but because silence becomes part of her power. Did you and Nachiket consciously distinguish between silence as vulnerability and silence as intimidation?

Huma: Oh, absolutely. And I think, for women in any way, silence is something that is very much a part of their experience, right? Women aren’t really encouraged to be very vocal or outspoken. It’s often looked down upon. Women are often silenced in our cultures, whether it’s their needs, their desires, or simply their opinions. And hence, there was something quite tongue-in-cheek about having a protagonist who is actually silent. But the idea was to flip that narrative. How do we use her silence not as her weakness, but actually as her strength? Exactly what you said. It’s not her vulnerability; it’s actually a sign of her strength. She uses it to become perhaps the best killer that exists in this town. Nobody suspects her because she looks like this harmless, poor, deaf, and mute girl, and she uses that perception to her advantage. So we had a lot of fun taking that stereotype and completely turning it on its head.

Aayush: Siddhu may be the first person who sees a life for her beyond revenge. Did you play her relationship with him as love, or was there also a part of her that was simply discovering what it might feel like to be someone other than the person she had spent twenty years pretending to be? 

Huma: Wow. I think it was a bit of both. I think they definitely fell in love, and definitely, love has the power to transform you. Where that journey would take them, maybe I don’t think even she knew. She just wanted to go along with what this feeling was. And of course, as most assassin stories go, love is probably not the best idea in these situations. But it just felt right. She was obviously scared in those moments, especially in those tragicomic moments where they try to come closer and then she gets scared. I think those moments felt very real because she’s still a girl at the end of the day, even though she expresses herself a little differently. But no, definitely, I think for us, it was always about the transformative power of love. How love urges her to actually choose a life that isn’t filled with revenge and hatred, but instead moves her towards something far more beautiful.

Aayush: When you visited schools for children with hearing and speech disabilities, was there anything you observed that ultimately changed a specific choice you made in the performance? 

Huma: Well, so many. I feel like it’s a spectrum, right? You can decide where on that spectrum you fall. And I think, for a lot of people who are deaf or hard of hearing, their other senses can become so heightened. For example, if somebody is behind you or talking, you can be much more aware of what’s happening around you because your other senses are so heightened. I remember I went to this one school and they had a dance session, but they had this massive speaker there. So instead of hearing the music, you could actually feel the beats. And a lot of them were dancing to those beats, which I thought was so fascinating. And there were so many little things like that that I picked up on.

As I said, for me, silence was never her weakness. It was her strength. Her senses were heightened and sharper, and she was much more attuned to her environment. And that’s what allowed her to navigate this world and, ultimately, become the best killer in a world dominated by men, while being a woman herself.

Aayush: You’ve worked in both the Indian film industry and Hollywood, and you’ve also worked with Zack Snyder. What was your reaction when he shared the poster on Instagram? And having worked in both industries, what differences do you see in the way stories are developed and how filmmakers approach them?

Huma: I’m very grateful to Zack. I think he’s wonderful. He’s such a fine director, and he’s also a friend. We’re really grateful that he chose to share the trailer and other stuff about the film because it made the information about the film reach so many more people. And I think it really comes from his love for movies and his love for India. As I said, the whole team was over the moon. We can’t even tell you how excited we were to get that kind of nod from a director we really, really admire. I’ve been a fan of his even before I got the opportunity to work with him, so this was just very special.

But I think, for me, my job as an actor remains the same. It doesn’t matter whether I’m working in the West or working in India. I still have to turn up and do my bit. Tomorrow morning, I have a 6 a.m. call time, and I have to get up and act. I have to do what I have to do. Whether I’m in Connecticut or I’m in Hoshangabad, it doesn’t really make a difference. The job remains the same.

Aayush: You produced the film as well as acted in it. Did being involved on the production side change the way you protected the character creatively? Were there moments when the producer in you and the actor in you wanted different things?

Huma: That’s a really good question, Aayush. You’ve asked some very good questions, I must say. Many times, I think, when I read the script, I really wanted to do it. Of course, I have to give a lot of credit to my producing partner, Saqib, who is also my brother. He really gave his everything to this film, his blood, sweat, and tears. On this particular one, I was mostly the actor, but I would also come in for the creative choices, as opposed to the day-to-day running around and production duties. Saqib completely took that off my hands and really jumped into all of those things.

For me, I always wanted to protect Baby’s essence. When more and more people come onto a project, everybody can start taking the story in a different direction. But I never wanted Baby to become someone who was either a victim or a bichari (helpless). She was always the hero of the story. Not even the villain. She was the hero of her own story because she has been wronged, and she’s out there seeking revenge. I wanted to make sure that always came through, no matter what creative choice we made, whether it was the music, her outfits, the locations, or anything else. The idea was to show her as a multifaceted human being and, most importantly, to make sure that she is the creator of her own destiny. Something terrible has happened to her, but she’s out there seeking revenge on her own terms. She has that agency for herself, and that was really important to me.

Aayush: You've said that dialogue and accents are among your strengths. What did you discover about yourself as an actor when you were forced to remove those tools almost completely?

Huma: That I have expressive eyes. Yeah, I have expressive eyes. And if you really have that intention in your gut and you just hold on to it, you’re able to express so much more than you would imagine. So believe in yourself. Believe in your instincts. Sometimes, less is more, and you don’t have to be insecure about the fact that you need a lot of dialogue to be able to express what you’re feeling or what you’re trying to do. If you hold on to that thought and really carry it within you, and of course, if you’re working with a team that is also attuned to what you’re doing, it’ll happen.

Aayush: Nachiket has described Baby as his own version of the “Angry Young Man” archetype, which immediately made me wonder how you viewed her while playing the character. Did you see Baby as an “Angry Young Woman” in a similar sense, or did that comparison feel too limiting because the source of Didi’s anger, her experiences, and the way she expresses that anger are fundamentally different? As an actor, how did you understand what was really driving her anger beneath the surface?

Huma: I think, in fact, I also kind of seconded that opinion. We have enough angry young men in the world. I think it’s time for some angry young women, and why not? I think it’s important because, for me, I understand where the idea of the angry young man comes from. Whenever there’s an injustice or something wrong that happens, it angers you, and it forces you to get up and demand change. And I feel like, for her, it’s the same thing. Something wrong has happened to her, and she gets up and takes up arms to demand that change.

Her choices may be slightly unconventional, even illegal, but hey, they’re choices that she makes. And I love the idea of strong women being represented on screen. I don’t think we have enough of them. I don’t think we have enough action heroines either. We need to have more of them, and not in a typical, sexualized way, but as actual women who can kick a**, save themselves, and don’t need to be saved by anybody. I think I’m going to dedicate my life to playing such characters because I genuinely really enjoy playing them. I love characters where women are the creators of their own destiny. They can kick a**, and they can look amazing while doing it.

Aayush: There is something almost tragic about the title "Do Die Do" because Baby's entire life becomes a cycle of doing something, nearly dying for it, and doing it again. Did you ever think of the title as describing Didi's psychological loop rather than simply being wordplay on Karmarkar?

Huma: The wordplay was, of course, a primary thought, but no, for us, “Do Die Do” is an anthem. It’s almost like, if you fail, try again. Keep doing, doing, doing until you succeed. And I feel like that’s the anthem we swear by. That’s the anthem we live by, because that’s just the only way forward. And I don’t find that defeatist or negative at all. In fact, I find it very life-affirming because it simply says that, no matter what happens, you power through. You just keep going.

Aayush: Looking back at your first major roles, what feels most different about the way you approached Baby compared with the actor you were when you made Gangs of Wasseypur?

Huma: Oh my God, I was such a child. I had no idea what I was doing. I was just having fun. And I think it just so happened that everything clicked, and it was beautiful. But I think now I’m more sure of who I am as a person and as an actor. I have a few more tricks up my sleeve. As a performer, I’ve become more confident in my abilities, which I definitely didn’t have earlier. I think that’s been a more recent thing. And it’s not a bad thing. I don’t think I’ve become overconfident, but I’ve definitely understood what my strengths are. And I think that’s a very important distinction. I hope and pray I never become overconfident about my craft because that would be the worst thing.

But to know who you are and have that sense of yourself is a very beautiful and powerful thing. So, for sure, it’s been a beautiful journey. I’ve learned from every director, every actor, every producer, every writer I’ve worked with. Engaging with all of them has really helped me grow as an artist. So there’s been a massive difference in how I approach movies. Earlier, I was just looking to be part of anything. You just wanted to be working, and you had that insecurity where you wanted to get another job and just be a working actor. Now, I think I’m a bit more choosy and a bit more relaxed. I know my job, and people know me now, so work will always keep coming. Now, I really need to understand why I’m doing something and what my reasons are for doing it.

Aayush: What did Baby/Didi teach Huma Qureshi about acting that you didn't know before you made this film?

Huma: Oh, wow. Um, don't be scared. Even if the night is very dark and you don't know if  you are going to get out? Just go through it. Don't be afraid of the dark.

Baby Do Die Do is streaming exclusively on Netflix. 

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