When we meet, Richa Chadda — known for her intrepid and offbeat roles — comes across as quite the contrary. She appears tired, presumably due to the lengthy interviews she had to give before my turn. This is unexpected, considering her uninhibited onscreen persona.
Our interview is in light of the 29-year-old’s most recent film role as the protagonist’s wife in Sarbjit . It’s comes as a surprise to many, especially after her repeated portrayals of strong, vociferous women. For instance, there was the foul-mouthed Nagma Khatoon in Gangs of Wasseypur – Parts 1 and 2 (2012). But Chadda’s character in Sarbjit , appears in stark contrast. “This was a difficult role to play,” she says. “Unlike my previous ones, where I could be bold, almost brazen, [but] as Sarbjit’s wife Sukhpreet, I had to exercise a lot of control. My character is a silent, yet strong figure, making the role a challenging one. Sukhpreet transforms from a young, bubbly girl to a mature, tragic woman: this transformation was tough to portray.”
When it comes to picking her projects, it isn’t the genre or the film itself as much as it is the character graph, which attracts Chadda to a film. Take her forthcoming film Cabaret , where Chadda plays the lead. “My character is a girl on the run. You have to watch the film to find out what it is that she’s trying to escape,” she says. “Throughout her journey, my character undergoes several trials, after which she finally tastes success.” It was also the idea of working in a mainstream project, which had a lot of music and dancing that made her sign the film. “I signed Cabaret for the sheer love of dancing. Also, I wanted to widen my range of roles, which made me take up this project.”
Looking at Chadda’s filmography — a smorgasbord of characters — there appears to be a stereotype: that of the badass sexually liberated modern woman. But Chadda vehemently says otherwise, “I don’t think I’m being typecast at all.” In fact, the actor continues about the various ways her characters are empowered. “When Nagma Khatoon throws her cheating husband out of the house, she shows her strength and character in an entirely non-sexual way. Similarly, in Cabaret , in one scene, the character I essay, offers a man a whiskey, while making conversation. How is this remotely sexual?”
From the bevy of roles she’s played, Chadda identifies with “playing the protagonist’s girlfriend Mira in Main Aur Charles (2015) [that] was exciting for me,” she says. “While it was a challenging role to play, I could also see a little of myself in Mira’s intelligence, vulnerability and stupidity. It is sad that a role which I love so dearly could not become memorable because of the film’s brief period at the theatres.” But all these films have left the actor asking for a breather. “Acting in serious films has taken a toll me: emotionally and mentally. I want to now do a few comedies; move towards light-hearted cinema for a while.”
A common face at international film festivals, Chadda is keen to move towards world cinema: “I think I’m already in the global circuit; at least I can say that I have stepped into it,” she says. “One of my upcoming films, Love Soniya is an Indo-American production and will be shot in Mumbai and Los Angeles, among other places.”
A shrinking world
Not so long ago, she featured in Words with Gods (2014) a larger American-Mexican production, where she acted in one of the anthology film’s seven shorts, God Room , directed by Mira Nair. Chadda claims that the world is shrinking and that as an actor it is important to make your presence felt beyond the limits of your immediate audience. She laughs drily, mentioning how festival-goers abroad still imagine Indian cinema to be only about song and dance. Fortunately for her though, her breakthrough film Masaan managed to escape that stereotype, winning acclaim at Cannes. The forthcoming film, Sudhir Mishra’s Dasdev , is line with the actor’s tenets. She will play the spirited Paro in this modern adaptation of Sarat Chandra’s classic novel Devdas .
For Chadda, there’s no difference between a lead role and a supporting one, but it’s important to be fearless in one’s choices. “Do not be dictated by the opinions of others; choose roles that you think you can identify with, and what you think will add to your career graph,” she says. “I do exactly what I want. It makes me sleepy to think of what I’m expected to do.” She says, “Everyone keeps talking about women in cinema who do daring roles. But the truth is, there is so much strength in vulnerability too: in being broken and exposed.” With her desire to do all kinds of films, the actor signs off expressing a desire to be part of a Broadway musical some day.
The writer is an intern with The Hindu
‘The truth is, there is so much strength in vulnerability too:
in being broken
and exposed’
