I hadn’t realised the strength of my character: Richa Chadda

Actress Richa Chadda even in her wildest dreams hadn’t thought that her Nagma Khatim will turn out to be the talk-of-the-town. We are talking about Gangs of Wasseypur that is gathering critical acclaim and Richa, whose portrayal of Nagma, a strong character in the male-dominated movie has got everyone sit up and take notice. Though the film has chauvinistic undertones, Richa has managed to emerge as a feisty woman, who stands on her own. “The film is patriarchal and is based on real incidents. I also thought it was chauvinistic but if you see, even though Sardar Khan (Manoj Bajpayee) is ruthless and powerful he is scared of both his wives Nagma and Durga (Reema Sen)!,” informs Richa, who has essayed a woman much older than her age.

The film has got her two international offers, one from a Berlin-Indo production house and one based out of New York. While she is keen to take up the former, she is wary of being a part of the  latter because it involves some nude scenes. “I am not comfortable with that,” she reveals. Meanwhile,  Bollywood producers too are keen to have her in their films. Two days ago, she had three film offers and what has got her excited are that they include a romcom, a masala entertainer and one alternative cinema. “I am happy that I am getting a variety as I don’t want to be stuck in one genre,” says Richa, who had made her debut with filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee’s Oye Lucky Lucky Oye! “After that film, though I got a lot of acclaim, it didn’t translate into offers because people thought like my character in that film, I cannot speak English,” laughs Richa, who was part of Barry John’s theatre when she auditioned for both Oye Lucky Lucky Oye and Dev D. “I was shortlisted for both but Anurag (director Anurag Kashyap) said that he needed a particular look for the character, which was eventually played by Kalki (Koechlin). However, that turned out be my audition for Gangs of Wasseypur,” reveals the actor. Richa is now looking forward to the second part of the film in which she has a more meaty role. As for using cuss words, Richa says that she had no qualms and in real life too, her sense of humour is sarcastic and deadpan. “I however, didn’t realise the strength of my character when I took up the film as I was just a baby in front of all the established and senior actors,” she confesses.