Exclusive! Sheeba Chadha: Ageism is a serious part of our industry, it's a sad fact

Over the years, Bollywood has redefined the character of mothers in films. Ratna Pathak Shah, Supriya Pathak Kapur, Seema Pahwa, and Sheeba Chadha are some of the actors who have created an impact by bringing shades of motherhood to the screen. Interestingly, Sheeba Chadha’s recent outing in Badhaai Do has become the talk of the town, and she has been lauded for her incredible performance. In recent times, Chadha has played mom to several actors, from Alia Bhatt (Gully Boy), Sanya Malhotra (Badhaai Ho) to Shah Rukh Khan (Raees and Zero).

In Badhaai Do she plays Baby, a naive mother to Rajkummar Rao’s character and someone oblivious to the ways of the real world in the Harshvardhan Kulkarni directorial that has been praised for breaking stereotypical depictions of the LGBTQ+ experience in Hindi cinema.

During a recent exclusive interview with OTTplay, the actor opened up about her role, the existing ageism in the film industry, and also how things are changing in terms of LGBTQ+ representation in movies. Chadha also spoke about how different roles have been offered to her for the past few years.

Excerpts…

One of the most impactful scenes in Badhaai Do is your character hugging Rajkummar Rao after he comes out to his family. How did you approach that scene? What was the shooting process like?

So I normally don't think I go with any premeditated sort of plan. That's not normally how I like to enter a scene, particularly one like this. Of course, the rough math you have in your ideas, your sort of emotional mental logic, you have it clear in your head. I think for Baby's character, what was clear to me was that it's not even that important what he is. I'm not even sure she would be completely cognizant of what he said exactly. What is this coming out? I don't think she's so attuned or knowledgeable about even the nuance of that. I think for her, it's more just like she just responds or reacts to things as they come. When she went up to her child, she didn't know how he would be, but she saw that he was completely broken down, and he was crying. That's the thing that will just sort of impact her as a mother. It's like just providing soothing to a child who's in deep pain. It's like a mother's response. And this kind of mother, who's so reluctant on so many fronts, essentially understood conventional mothering methods. That's it; she will be there. Whatever it is that she understands or doesn't understand, she will just be there for the child; that's like, a given.

I hadn't planned anything. But just before that, on that day, we'd also shot that scene where Raj (Rajkummar Rao) is coming out to the family. It was so amazing to just sit behind Raj and watch him perform. You could sense that the day he came on the set, he was in another mental and emotional space. You could sense that. That affects you, and it's almost like it becomes like the osmosis of two characters. But I sat behind him throughout that scene. That's the way it was designed. I remember between one of the takes, he and I had no eye contact, nothing throughout the scene when he was talking to the family. In between one of the takes, he had just reached behind and just squeezed my hand, just outside of it all. It's just like being drawn and not that I needed to do it, but it's just that he was so in it, he was performing that scene.

Your character is shown as someone very naive in this film, and there's a common link between Badhaai Do and Badhaai Ho, wherein in one you take time to accept a middle-aged couple having another child, and here, you are the exact opposite. What do you have to say about this role reversal of sorts in a franchise?

I didn't think of it as a sequel in any way. The connection is in the name and then the producers, but in terms of the stories, they're, of course, tied by the fact that the Buddha is speaking of something fairly amazing, with discussions and dialogues to be had. They are both talking about two such things. That's how I think they are linked. It's not a sequel in my head. They're diametrically opposite rules, literally far apart.

One of the mainstream commercial movies that started the conversation about parents accepting their children's sexual orientation is Kapoor & Sons. However, in Badhaai Do, the scene where you hug your son is the most surprising moment in the film. We see an interesting graph even about a discussion about the acceptance by parents and how it has changed in just five years. How do you reflect on this?

It's good that we are getting to hear these stories right there. So that more than dialogue can be built, the discourse can widen, we can have stuff that moves and shakes things up. I still find it a bit ridiculous that we are still having a conversation about it, and I find it sad that sexual beingness is a question that has to be explained, it has to be hidden, it has to be apologized for. I find it genuinely extremely disturbing as a society. I understand at the same time that this is how the orientation has been over time. That's how we've chosen to position these things as a society. Of course, It will take time, but I get impatient. I find it so great that more and more stuff is being made. I'm glad that we're talking and that these talks are happening now. It's sort of in our faces, and I think that should happen more and more.

You have played memorable roles over the years, having an impactful character, so to speak. One of the most unforgettable is Dum Laga Ke Haisha. If I have to ask you, which role of yours do you consider to have been a pathbreaker for you?

I don't think of stuff like that. I'm not sure about pathbreaker, but I think the fact that I've been offered in the last two or three years the kind of content, the kind of stories, with these kinds of characters to play for me has been pathbreaking. In terms of the fact that I got to do it, and it's just extreme gratitude that I get to play these roles that are so different. The trust of somebody that I could probably sort of bring to life, that in itself is just a thing of gratitude.

My character in Doctor G is also a mother. I'm playing a mother to Ayushmann Khurrana, and it is so different. You have to find the key as to what the difference is in that mother. Even in the web series, where one gets different kinds of roles, we have been disbanded. So, Taj Mahal, again, is a diametrically opposite role for me, and it's so wonderful to get that stuff on the plate.

Does it ever come to your mind when you're saying yes to a project wherein you play mother to the leading role? You have especially played the role of a mother, from Rajkummar Rao (Badhaai Do), Alia Bhatt (Gully Boy), to even Shah Rukh Khan (Raees & Zero).

We know very well that ageism is a serious part of our industry. It's been going on for decades, and it's just like we are still seeing it. Women half their age are playing the love interests, and women who are pretty much their age or whatever, younger to them, are playing their mothers; that's a fact. It's a sad fact, I can't say, but it is. It is a reality of how things function. And will it change? I hope it does. But then again, that means just more danger with the way scripts are written. Once you cross a certain age, then you're very... I started playing a mother, God knows, it's like, you cross your mid-20s and you are offered a mother's role. So that's how it works. It's the reality of the industry and it's sad, but it just means the fact that one of the ways corrected means that women our age and men our age get to play their age, then those stories have to be written and they have to be greenlit. This very mother, father, child thing, of course, is changing now, which is great. That old system, that graph, is, of course, different now, which is kind of odd. That's why, at least, if one gets to play such a different range of mothers, within itself, it's great. Otherwise, it used to be just how we knew the mothers were, which is just, I don't think that cuts it in at all. Thank God for that.

It's been nearly 25 years since you were a part of the entertainment industry. How would you describe your whole journey? Would you call it new beginnings with the roles you have been offered now?

That's true, I am, and I'm grateful for that. Of course, again, we know how the face, or the aesthetic, so to speak, of our industry, has changed over the last several years, largely, of course, with OTT, and it's the difference. So my journey has been quite mixed like that. I've always said that I've never had a roadmap, I've never had a plan. I really, truly went with the flow. What made sense then, with what was offered, was literally how I made my choices and my decisions. Some worked, and some didn't. But everything sort of came together in this body of work, which, of course, helps you; it layers what you bring to the table as an actor. At some level as a professional, it's just an understanding of many things that you just intrinsically gather over time.

So 25 years? Wow, I don't even know exactly how many years it's been. I'm very happy and I could say that safely that I've never been ambitious. I can say that really, who doesn't like to do great work, get fantastic growth, and get a lot of appreciation that gives us further beyond greatness? But knowing that I'm very lazy and do not focus so much on where to do and where to go, it's like a journey of flow. Given that, I'm very grateful for the work that one gets and whatever work one has got to do.