If Fukrey’s Bholi Punjaban blew your mind away, the talented Richa Chadha is waiting to step into the limelight once again after being part of movies such as Oye Lucky Lucky Oye and Gangs Of Wasseypur . This year, Richa will have five releases including Tamanchey with Nikhil Dwivedi, Jiah Aur Jiah with Kalki Koechlin, Main Aur Charles with Randeep Hooda, Ishqeria with Neil Nitin Mukesh and Mira Nair’s short film with Rajkummar Rao. “I want to be really proud of each of my films. If I get films that deal with a variety of subjects and offer me unique characters, I jump at them,” says Miss Spunk.
Her role in Tamanchey is already being talked about in spite of the film having been delayed. Richa plays a strong woman who uses sex appeal to her advantage. “She is very tough but also sexy in a subliminal way,” says Richa. “Yes, it did get delayed for different reasons but we are shooting a promotional song and will be back on track. This is the first ‘young’ role I have done!”
Richa and Kalki have shot for their first film together Jiah Aur Jiah directed by choreographer Howard Rosemeyer. She and Kalki have exchanged cultural identities for this film – Richa plays a demure ‘never-smoke never-drink’ Tam Brahm while Kalki plays a loud Punjaban in this film on female bonding. They are also doing a play together with Atul Kumar’s The Company Theatre, details of which are not out yet.
“Yes, I am doing a play with her too. And working with Atul Kumar is a dream. But we haven’t yet discussed the entire thing so there is very little to speak about on this project,” says Richa.
In Main Aur Charles , directed by Prawal Raman, Richa plays the gullible one. “The film is set in the 1980s and I play this young, gullible stupid girl who gets taken in by the charms of a criminal and falls in love,” she says. By the end of the year, she returns with a quintessential romance titled Ishqeria . “I haven’t done this lovey-dovey bit so this was totally new to me. They even got me swaying under a waterfall. I am a trained dancer but Bollywood dancing is altogether a new ballgame and I was quite a package to handle!” she admits.
Reports suggest that a Hollywood project could also be well on its way although Richa prefers not to talk about it yet. “But I am very interested in Hollywood. There is no expiry date on female actresses there. I like that respect,” she says. Richa says that as an ‘outsider’ to the film industry, she has it tough but only as much as others.
“Life for Richa is as tough as that for Shah Rukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan. If I have difficulty getting quality work, Shah Rukh has probably the same pressure to make sure his Chennai Express does smashingly well at the box office. The nature
of this industry is such. It can be really ruthless.”
