Exclusive! Actress Richa Chadha wants to do a romantic film but finds Indian content 'boring'

Richa Chadha is one of the most phenomenal and critically acclaimed actresses in the country. The actress has been winning hearts with her versatile characters in most of her films, be it Devi from Masaan, Tara Roopram from Madam Chief Minister or Bholi Punjaban from Fukrey. And now, the actress has been wooing her audience with her performance as DSP Ratna Sankhawar in the mystery-thriller series Candy. The series is out on Voot now.

In a recent chat with OTTplay, Richa talks about her latest web series, her upcoming projects, her views on censorship on the OTT platforms and more. Excerpts:

Talking about the project, Richa says that the script of the series is what intrigued her to be a part of the project. She says, “I am playing a cop in the series, so my character also made me take up the project. My vibe with the creative team including the director Ashish Shukla, the writers Debojit (Das Purkayastha) and Agrim (Joshi) matched well. That is also one of the reasons to accept Candy. Rightly so, they helped me on the set as well, either it’s giving suggestions or working together on scenes.”

She says that the team was deeply involved in each scene which kept her motivated throughout the shoot. “Asthethetic should match. If you didn’t like a scene that you did and the creators say that it was really good, then it’s worrisome because it’s clear that you are not on the same page,” Richa further says.

When asked about her character DSP Ratna Sankhawar, the Masaan actress says it is not inspired by a real person but surely resonates with many real-life woman police officers. Preparing for the role was not a piece of cake. She met a few female cops and hung out with them to learn about their day-to-day lives. "I also used to observe that even though being on the same level and post, woman police officers used to get calls from their homes asking when their shift is going to over as they have numerous responsibilities at their home as well. This is very unlikely to happen for a male cop,” the actress reveals about her prep and research to play DSP Ratna in the mystery-thriller show.

Richa, who has mostly played strong and bold characters in her films like Devi in Masaan and Bholi Punjaban in Fukrey, does not mind playing a cute and romantic character in a full-fledged romantic movie but she finds most Indian content 'boring'. The actress says, “Most romantic films that come out of India are a bit boring for me and I feel if I don’t like to watch such content, how can I act in them. I’m trying to write nowadays and if I write something comic for myself with a shade of romance, I would like to explore that space like the show Fleabag on Amazon Prime Video. I really liked the show and found it romantic as well.

“In India, we can find a barrage of different stories. We necessarily do not have to work on a cliche concept, something like a boy meets a girl and falls in love. I think we can explore much more than that,” she adds.

The actress had written and directed a documentary as a part of a college project in 2006. Ask if we will see her in the director’s chair, making a big feature film soon and the Sarbjit actress replies: “I loved the experience in college but I don’ think that I’m ready or even interested to direct a full-fledged film or show right now. Direction is a big task in itself. You have to meet every person related to the film, whether it’s the writers or the HODs of each department or editors and others. I like being an actor and stick to one job that is acting.” But she sure is exploring writing and would like to step into production.

Richa had recently announced her first production with beau Ali Fazal for a forthcoming film called Girls Will Be Girls. When asked if as an actress, she also feels responsible to tell stories like Love Sonia and Madam chief minister showcasing the reality of society, she says, "We are storytellers at the end of the day and I don’t feel that it is our 'responsibility' to always give a message through our films. I think the content should be of all kinds including fun, dark, mysterious and real so that viewers have enough options.” To her, critics reviews do not matter much either. The Shakeela actress says she does not read critics reviews. She further adds, "It sometimes depresses you, while at other times, it pushes you to the ninth cloud. Critics sometimes write good, while sometimes they get too personal and roast you, which is demotivating.”

She also feels that there should not be censorship on the OTT content. While she agrees that the platforms have many violent and sexual shows that a 12-year-old kid also has access to, there should be parental lock options and not censorship. "As much as you try to suppress something, it gets out more and not in an ideal way," she says.

Meanwhile, on the work front, the Gangs of Wasseypur actress has a lot on her plate. She worked on a pandemic-based podcast titled Virus 2062 with her beau Ali Fazal, which released on September 3. Her highly-anticipated sports drama web series Inside Edge is expected to release this year on Amazon Prime. The filming and post-production of the show are completed. She also has an upcoming show Six Suspects with Pratik Gandhi that will release later this year too. Two films Abhi Toh Party Shuru Hui Hai and Fukrey 3 are also on the pipeline, says the actress before signing off.