Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 30 : Actor Nimrat Kaur, known for her acclaimed performances in films like ‘The Lunchbox’ and ‘Airlift’, recalled how her performance in the Irrfan Khan-starrer became her major international breakthrough, leading to her role as Pakistani intelligence officer Tasneem Qureishi in the American espionage thriller series ‘Homeland’.
In a conversation with ANI, Nimrat shared how the makers of ‘Homeland’ noticed her work in ‘The Lunchbox’ and approached her for the role, saying they believed she had the qualities needed to portray a spy on screen.
“Honestly, they just saw ‘The Lunchbox’ because it released everywhere. And I do believe that another actor was cast for that part. But then they saw it and the writers and directors and the creators of ‘Homeland’, they were like, ‘We saw you in ‘The Lunchbox’ and we thought you make a great spy’," she said. 
Recalling the irony of being chosen for a spy role after playing Ila, a quiet and isolated homemaker in ‘The Lunchbox’, Nimrat added, “So I said, you thought that Ila trapped in that house, in that kitchen, sweaty, making food and barely even getting her hair tied in the right way would make a great spy? They said, yeah, we saw it, it was just perfect for us, something about it.”
Nimrat said her transition from ‘The Lunchbox’ to ‘Homeland’ was not something she had planned, but something that unfolded naturally. “So that's how it happened. And then it was spy after spy after spy,” she said, adding that the success of one project often leads audiences and creators to associate actors with similar roles.
The actor, who appeared in the fourth and eighth season of the American thriller series ‘Homeland’, played Tasneem Qureishi, a Pakistani intelligence officer who becomes a formidable counterpart to Claire Danes’ character Carrie Mathison.
Speaking about her experience of working on the international series, Nimrat said the scale and process were very different from her early work in India. “I had barely filmed in India. My experience was just a lot of that, ‘The Lunchbox’ was so little and it was kind of short, like how an experimental, small-budget film is shot. ‘Homeland’ was such a large project in terms of scale, the canvas, the locations,” she said.
The actor recalled that the team shot the series in Cape Town, which doubled for Karachi and Pakistan in the show. “We were shooting in Cape Town. That was what we passed off as Karachi and Pakistan that we were shown to be filming in. It was such a fun process because every day there was such high action sequences and by high action, I don't necessarily mean physical action or action sequences. It’s just a very high-energy shoot because you know that the stakes are so high, what you're dealing with is such serious and grim situations and the impact is so large,” she said.
Nimrat also spoke about playing a character who was originally written with a male perspective in mind. “It was just another part which I felt like this was a girl who was doing what you'll mostly see a man doing. She was doing and executing things that were written for a male actor and then they said, okay let's switch this and make her, make this character into a woman,” she said.
She added that the role was created to bring a strong challenge to Claire Danes’ character. “They needed someone to be Claire Danes’ nemesis, someone who could give her a run for her money and make her life difficult,” Nimrat said.
Reflecting on working away from home for the international project, Nimrat said the experience also came with its own challenges. “The challenging part is the isolation of being in a foreign country and shooting when you're working in a Hollywood project. It was my first time away from my home. And the warmth of working in India, you know, our people, our language and I miss that, you know, sometimes when I'm on set abroad you really miss that because our cultural references or our set problems or the things how we approach thing, you know, a shoot or a scene or that's different. It's just a cultural difference,” she said.
“Otherwise I feel 'Homeland' was in the year 2014 and 15, from now up until now, from then up until now the world as we know has changed. There is social media. The way people film now is so different. We have digital medium of shooting which wasn't the case. Everything was shot on film that time. Everything is so different. You know the world that I have seen in the last 10 years working as an actor is so different today,” Nimrat added.
However, Nimrat also highlighted the emotional challenges of spending months away from home while working on an international project. She said that despite the excitement of being part of a global series, adjusting to life away from family and familiar surroundings was not easy. Recalling her experience, she spoke about the bond the team developed while working in a foreign country.
“We had a great time because very often the seriousness of filming and all of that, everyone needs to relax and, you know, everyone needs to just kind of get along and have a good time because everyone's away from their homes and families. It was my first time away from my home. And that can be hard. You know, you're away from your friends, your family, you don't know when you're going back. It's four, five months is a long time,” she said.
“So, I would come back, shoot something like there was a, you know, like an ad shoot or something. I would come back, film that, and go back. So, you're actually away for many months,” Nimrat added.
However, she added that the opportunity helped her grow as an actor and experience a different style of filmmaking. “The world that I have seen in the last 10 years working as an actor is so different today,” Nimrat said.
'Homeland' is an American espionage thriller television series developed by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa. The series is based on the Israeli television series Prisoners of War, created by Gideon Raff, who also serves as an executive producer on Homeland.
The series stars Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison, a CIA officer with bipolar disorder who becomes convinced that decorated Marine Corps scout sniper Nicholas Brody (played by Damian Lewis) was turned by al-Qaeda and poses a threat to the United States. The storyline unfolds from this central premise, following Mathison’s covert operations and her pursuit of potential threats.

The series premiered on October 2, 2011, and concluded with its eighth and final season, which premiered on February 9, 2020. The series finale aired on April 26, 2020.