"I delivered a performance in Gangs Of Wasseypur that Anurag is very proud of" After the first day of the shoot, Anurag Kashyap called me and he told me that he was very doubtful that I'd pull it off but he was pleasantly surprised. I am not a big name in the industry and Anurag knows that. He also knows this is my first big film as the lead and he can't afford to go wrong. I went with his trust and from there on I decided I won't let him down. I delivered a performance that he is really proud of.
"In college I used to work with Barry John who used to work in Delhi at that time" I have a theatre background from Delhi. I started doing theatre in school. In college, I used to work with Barry John who used to work in Delhi at that time. I did a play and from that I was picked up to do Oye Lucky Lucky Oye. Between Oye Lucky and Gangs Of Wasseypur, there was a gap of a year and a half to two years. In that time too I kept on doing theatre. I did a play called Kennedy Bridge with Khalid Mohammed last year before Gangs Of Wasseypur started.
Read More">Some actors take two to three movies to establish their acting prowess. It’s another thing that Richa Chadda took merely under four minutes to establish the greatness she possessed in Dibakar Banerjee’s Oye Lucky Lucky Oye. The seduction scene between her and Abhay worked and how! And little did she know that what was comingRead More
Some actors take two to three movies to establish their acting prowess. It's another thing that Richa Chadda took merely under four minutes to establish the greatness she possessed in Dibakar Banerjee's Oye Lucky Lucky Oye. The seduction scene between her and Abhay worked and how! And little did she know that what was coming to her next would change her career for good. The surprise came in the form of Anurag Kashyap's Gangs Of Wasseypur. Never the one to shrink a challenge, Richa doesn't just have a unique gift of portraying her character but literally becoming her. Early this morning I sent her a Facebook friend request that she accepted. All I then needed to do was browse through her pictures. The result: Well, let's just say she falls somewhere on the continuum from fetching to dazzling. On the brink of embracing yet another unforgettable journey with Gangs Of Wasseypur, Richa talks to me over the phone about fame, ambition and the joys of being on her own in this Part 1 exclusive.
"In Wasseypur, I am playing a teenage bride to a middle aged woman" Gangs Of Wasseypur is my first film as a lead and it went to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. I am so proud of that. In Gangs Of Wasseypur, I am playing a teenage bride to a middle aged woman. The graph is splendid. So, I am playing somebody younger than me and older than me. It's not something that's easily achievable.
"On the first day of the Gangs Of Wasseypur shoot I was very under confident" On the first day of the Gangs Of Wasseypur shoot, I was very under confident. In front of me were actors like Manoj Bajpayee and Piyush Mishra. Most of the actors are from established acting schools. With their level of expertise I felt like a puppet in front of them. But if you look at Nawazuddin who is playing the main lead in the second part of Gangs Of Wasseypur, he has about eight years of theatre experience in addition to going to NSD. Having said that, I am justifying that whenever I am not shooting for a film, I am travelling and try and keep my theatre training up to the mark like all these actors have done and still keep on doing.
"I am not the person who is slotting myself as the next Smita Patil or Waheeda Rahman" I am not the person who is slotting myself as the next Smita Patil or Waheeda Rahman. I just like to be 'me'. I have done a bit of belly dancing and salsa and that's why I landed up in Khalid's play. I can do whatever is 'acting'. I can do any film with a central or leading part where I make a difference to the script. I am like 'salt', with little bit in any food, it adds a lot of taste. Without 'salt' the food goes for a toss. Also, I am doing a film with Nikhil Dwivedi called Tamanchey - that's a full on commercial cinema.
Stay glued for Part 2 of the exclusive interview with Richa Chadda