Actor Richa Chadha’s web series ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’ is currently streaming on Netflix. The actor has worked with many female actors in the film including Sonakshi Sinha, Manisha Koirala, Aditi Rao Hydari and others. In a recent interview, the actor spoke about feminism and her experience of working with female producers. She said that there are "enough vile women around us".
Richa Chadha's experience of working with female producers
In a conversation with News 18, Richa said, “I don’t think I subscribe to the fact that all women are saints. I’ve had some terrible experiences with female producers whose cheques bounced and they pretend to be feminists on Twitter (now X). I’ve also had toxic co-actors constantly competing with me by not giving the right cues and cutting out the lights in scenes. I can’t say that I have had a uniform, monolithic experience. Sisterhood definitely exists and it’s real when you build it, craft it and nurture it. But it takes more than one person to understand and create that."
Richa on toxic women
Talking about the notion of 'one woman’s win is every woman’s win', Richa said “If it’s a toxic woman who maligns everybody else and who has been uncharacteristically nasty to gain attention and press, her victory isn’t my victory. We should celebrate everybody’s growth and evolution. But does it always happen? No.”
“I think it’s an anti-feminist notion to think that women are not capable of evil. That’s just a dumb thing. We have enough vile women around us. Women defending rapists are vile, corrupt and horrible but they’re often in positions of power. They’re often given a platform by the media too. Am I supposed to just naturally assume that they’re feminists only because they have a vagina? No. I know plenty of women who are downright patriarchal and misogynist and plenty of men who are feminists. It’s not a gendered thing,” she told News 18.
Why Richa chose Lajjo's character in Heeramandi
The actor plays the character of Lajjo in the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial. The actor was offered a role with more screen time but she chose to portray Lajjo because of her heartbreaking arc in the show.
Talking about her decision, Richa had earlier told IANS, "When I was approached for 'Heeramandi', at the time Sanjay was the showrunner, and I had been offered another part, the one with more screen time for sure. But because an actor also needs to see what's in here that's new for me, I chose Lajjo."
She continued, “I have experimented with characters that have a grey shade, like Bholi Punjaban or Tara in ‘Madam Chief Minister’. Basically, I get accused of playing only empowered characters, so I felt the need to break that stereotype and surprise the audience. I wanted to play a part of a hopeless romantic and leave the audience with gooseflesh. That's exactly what's happening. People are calling me in tears.”