Richa Chadha: The Warrior Princess

The Compelling on screen and equally intriguing in real life, Richa talks about ambition, turning alternate cinema into the new ‘mainstream’, and her weird-*ss beauty experiments.  

- Meghna Sharma

It’s two thirty in the afternoon and Richa’s voice has that raspy ‘I-just-woke-up’ quality. “I did actually just wake up...I was shooting all night,” she tells us. In Delhi to shoot the Fukrey sequel, one of her most memorable characters (Bholi Punjaban), Richa reveals that as soon as she lands in the capital, she’s immediately at ease. Reminiscing her growing up years in the city, she says, “I studied in Delhi, and then left for Mumbai immediately after college. But I loved hanging out at Khan (Market) and Connaught Place.” As she talks more about her favourite city, she prepares her rather delayed morning tea in the background, revealing, “I always make my own tea in the morning. I hate it when someone f*cks up my first tea!”

As an actor, Richa is portrayed in two dimensions—a champion of alternate cinema and someone who’s stuck to her guns. In three dimensions, she fleshes out into a thoughtful, imperfect, funny, and complex person. While the journalist in me itches to quiz her about her ‘alternate’ career path, Richa insists she’d rather talk about politics. “I love reading about politics, it really intrigues me...whatever is happening around the world. Especially in the US!” And then, in the same breath, she admits to owning an Ivanka Trump dress: “I’m now embarrassed to say I love it, especially after seeing her father’s campaign. I don’t think I’d ever wear it now.” Richa’s style has never been deliberately provocative and fad- chasing. “I do like to experiment, though sometimes experiments don’t work well. But I don’t really care!” Sabyasachi, Manish Malhotra, Anita Dongre are some of the homegrown designers that she favours. “I love Indian designers, they’re all doing some really cool stuff now.”