Bollywood famed actor Richa Chadha joined NewsX India A-List for an exclusive conversation. The actor is best known for her roles in the film noir gangster saga Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) which earned her a Filmfare award, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Fukrey and her debut in a leading role with the drama Masaan among others. Post-Covid Richa Chadda’s Madam Chief Minister, a political Hindi drama film directed by Subhash Kapoor is released in theatres all over the world.
Talking about the movie and its comments and reviews, Chadha said “One can never really be sure at screenings. I have no objectivity as far as this film is concerned because obviously I’m attached to it. I’ve just been waiting for responses. I don’t read reviews because they can be really good and really bad and I don’t want my peace of mind to be disturbed by any of that.” Chadha is one of the first few leading actors whose films has released and hit theatres across the country after this pandemic.
“As we’re all attempting to slowly get back to the normalcy of what the version of normalcy was. Cinema plays a huge part and taking some steam off, letting some pressure out. I hope that people are the ones that are choosing to go into theatres go in and watch this. I know a lot of people have already. I’m excited to hear what people think. I definitely know that this will be talked about for better or for worse,” said the actor who has several critical appraisals for her bold roles. “It was a great part to be in the movie, and I thought that it would be foolish to turn it down. I mean it’s risky but it’s also an experimental lab but risky because with a whole new look, a new set of skills you need to acquire some new headspace and it’s a new genre hence I wanted to do it. I was happy that they considered me for it,” added Chadha.
Chadha shared her lockdown lessons from the year gone by and what she gained from it and what was something that perhaps was missed or some of the tough moments during the pandemic “The year was tough and we had lots of tragedies occurring around us. The state of the migrants when they were walking back and those times are very difficult when you as a human race had to deal with such misery or like when somebody passed away and you could not even mourn properly or see them one last time. Those kind of things were really difficult for sure. I think, no good ever comes of partying and if you’re having a great year the chances of you sitting down to introspect are very hard. But in this case, I feel like this when we were all indoors and shut down and by ourselves, it forced us to think. Sometimes, all it takes is for you to disconnect on social media or just go for a walk. The simpler things in life is a big lesson from the lockdown.”
Looking at the film industry in 2021, the Bollywood star shared with us her thoughts on the current state of the film industry and anticipations for the year ahead as after a tough year for the film industry where many releases were halted are slowly come back into theatres later this year. “I think that everyone’s attempting to get back to work and I think that are lots of projects that are now on floors, particularly series because in the lockdown the growth of the OTT has been phenomenal because it’s got a captive audience and what it has done in turn is it is creating a space where there is no box office pressure or opening pressure. We get to see the fantastic performances and amazing actors. These things are positive change and also the competitiveness of having to compete with something which you can watch on your phone or on your laptop is so much that film people are now forced to lift their standards of writing, etc. I feel this year should turn out good and like with everything else we must hope to be optimistic and create things that stand the test of time,” said Richa.
Recognized as one of the biggest achievers in the field of entertainment and cinema, Chadha talked to us about her game-changing moment or game-changing film that turn things around for her. “I don’t know what was game-changing at all. I don’t know, the game has been changed. I actually don’t look at my life in terms of like points on a graph, I think it’s more like a meandering journey where I’m having new experiences, doing new things and keeping myself entertained. I think and hope to continue doing that because at the end of the day it’s also about how I feel. I realized that as an artist primarily you also want to experiment and sort of flex your muscles when you get things. But breaks are important as I got Gangs of Wasseypur and thrown into this world and that would have been something life-changing in a sense,” remarked the actor.
On a concluding note, Richa shared a piece of advice for the viewers watching and budding actors who look up to her, “Just tighten your seatbelts, be very patient grow a thick skin and try to keep yourself happy.”