REPORT
Richa Chadha's Short But
Illustrious Career so Far
A
ctress Richa Chadha is winning over the world
with her latest film Masaan, first a hit at Cannes
and now one at home.The film received a five
minute standing ovation after being screened in the Un
Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival this
year. It also bagged two prestigious awards and has
been widely acclaimed by Bollywood celebrities who,
unlike us lesser mortals, have been treated to a series
of special previews of the Neeraj Ghaywan-directed film.
Much of the praise has been reserved for Richa's powerful performance as a young woman involved in a sexual
encounter gone wrong. Richa, whose father owns a
management firm and mother is a professor at Delhi University, studied at Delhi's Sardar Patel Vidyalaya. She
graduated from St Stephen's College and followed it up
with a Diploma in Social Communication Media from Sophia College, Mumbai.Richa started off as a model and
then turned to the stage. She was tutored by Barry John,
whose 'Theatre Action Group' counts Shah Rukh Khan
and Manoj Bajpai as alumni.Richa made her Bollywood
debut in Dibakar Banerjee's Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!,
which was followed by films like Benny and Babloo,
Gangs of Wasseypur, Fukrey and Ram Leela. Since her
debut, up till Tamanchey (in 2014), Richa starred in supporting, but immensely powerful roles.Her screen presence and superior talent have been lauded by critics and
audience alike. However, box office flop Tamanchey remains the only hiccup in her (so far) short but illustrious
career. She also made a blink-and-miss appearance in
Anil Kapoor's TV series 24.Richa has also appeared
in Mira Nair's anthology Words with Gods, which was
screened at the 71st Venice International Film Festival.And then came Masaan, which won the FIPRESCI
Award and Best Newcomer award for Neeraj Ghaywan
at Cannes in May. The film, which released in France
soon after, was also backed by Oscar winning-actress
Marion Cotillard.Richa, who has so far dealt with the offbeat and realistic, is now filming Pooja Bhatt's Cabaret,
a role far more glamorous than she's usually cast in.She
also has films like Main Aur Charles opposite Randeep
Hooda and Aur Devdas with Aditi Rao Hydari and Rahul
Bhat in the pipeline.
19 | BOOM