After her triumphant outing in Cannes last year for the soul-searing Masaan, the darling of indie cinema proudly celebrates her bold individuality with her unusual career choices. Actor Richa Chadha, in a freewheeling conversation with Shashi Baliga, talks about breaking out, shedding her inhibitions and walking the red carpet to success
The mid-morning sun slants its way into the hotel room, lights up Richa Chadha’s amber eyes and hots up her bare, naked face. It’s an unforgiving light; one that nothing less than flawless, silken skin could shine through. The actor is blessed with that kind of skin. So are quite a few other actresses. But no actress I have ever met (including some legendary beauties) would let herself be seen by a journalist in that utterly vulnerable state; make-up is as good a defence as any against the prying eyes and ears of the press. And then there’s the need to preserve the illusion — stars will arrive for the make-up marathon that is needed before a photo shoot with oversized sunglasses, whoosh in, say hurried hellos, rush into the make-up room, bolt the door and emerge only when their public face is ready to be seen.
Not Richa Chadha. She parks herself near the sunlit French windows, where the make-up artist has asked her to sit — and submits to her ministrations and my questions. “I can’t see you, but I can hear you… we can talk,” she assures me, her low voice sounding even more softspoken as she talks through dabs of foundation and her busy hands. She enjoys photo shoots and says, “I find posing difficult, but I find the whole experience interesting.” She has also learnt to pay more attention to her wardrobe. “When I first started out, I had a casual, everyday approach to it, as if I was dressing for college (St. Stephen’s, Delhi). I wasn’t necessarily the most well-groomed person, but I took chances. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn’t. I’ve worked on it and figured it out.”
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