From playing the mother of Nawazuddin Siddiqui at the age of 24 to making her presence felt at the festival circuit as well as at the box office, Richa Chadha has carved her own niche. The actress said she would rather opt for a project that gives her a chance to act than just give her visibility.
Born and brought up in Delhi, Richa started her career in Bollywood with the film ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye’ in 2008 after doing theatre extensively. However, she went through a tough time in the film industry before ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ happened in 2012.
She has since played several substantial roles in films as different as ‘Fukrey’ and ‘Masaan’.
Doesn’t she feel bad that mainstream filmmakers are not collaborating with her enough for a protagonist’s role?
“Look, if the producer is looking for a business of Rs 100 crore from a film, they need a star like Deepika Padukone to pull it off and it is purely a professional reason. I am okay with all that.”
“I am not here to make money anyway. I want to leave a mark on every project that I take up, every film that I do,” Richa told in an interview.
“I would say that only in ‘Sarbjit’, I felt misused. I regretted choosing the film, but ‘Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela’ was a great experience. My character was pretty substantial. As long as my choice of the film gives me a chance to do that, I will continue choosing quality,” she added.
However, she admits that playing the mother of an older man, at the age of 24 in ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’, was certainly a risk. “That was a huge risk that I took at that point in time for which nobody appreciated me. There are people who thought that I am much older than what my actual age was. But people also understood my calibre as an actor,” she said.
Richa was also offered to play the mother of Hrithik Roshan in the film ‘Agneepath’.
“Yes, that is true, and I think that was a really stupid idea of the person who offered me that role. I think he was smoking something wrong,” quipped the actress, known for speaking her mind.”
Asked to choose some of her best performance so far, Richa said, “Of course, Bholi Punjaban (in ‘Fukrey’) is one of the roles that has given me a lot of love from the audience.”
“It was a very empowering role of a woman who runs her business like a gangster with so much confidence. It was a very well made film and I think that is how a commercial film should be, with good content, and it will earn money at the box office as well.”
Richa said ‘Masaan’ is one of the films which is also close to her heart. “I think I am so lucky that I started in 2012 and in 2015, my film was receiving two awards at the Cannes Film Festival. I will always be thankful to Neeraj Ghaywan for giving me the role,” she added.
The irony is ‘Masaan’ was one of those films which initially nobody – whether a producer, big studio or film stars – was interested to be a part of. Since she did not have a film background, what gave her the confidence to find the potential in the material back then?
“Oh that’s easy… I have a brain. People mostly think about a character where they will get to look good, two song-dance sequences for visibility… but that is not how it works
