By Nidhi Kumari

Her presence on screen leaves a lasting impression on the audience, she has been able to make a name of herself, in a very short span of time; she raises the bar with each performance she delivers by taking up challenging roles. And she’s none other than Richa Chadha.

The bold Indian actress tells us about her campaign, “A Bungalow On The Hill”, about the characters she play, how she doesn’t want to  be labeled and more in an exclusive interview with Indus Age.

You’ve launched a campaign ‘A Bungalow on The Hill’, supporting a noble cause.  Enlighten us about it.

I wanted to do some charity and I partnered with KETTO which is a crowd funding portal to help girls who are victims of rape and human trafficking. We came across this NGO named Purnata which takes care of them and help them stand on their own feet, make them independent and give them a little bit of education, life skills, etc. so I wanted to reach out to them as the girls really needed help because the girls really have been through a lot.

I hope people reading this will also contribute for the betterment of their condition.

What motivated you to be associated with this particular cause?

There are always people who need help and several causes that need attention and I came across this cause and these girls needed urgent help… the girls need better accommodation. Their stories have been really tragic I really felt that this needs to be addressed immediately which is why I chose this a cause.

We have shot a 3 min documentary (https://www.ketto.org/fundraiser/helpusgivedignity?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=fbpageshare&utm_campaign=helpusgivedignity )for the girls having interviews of what all they went through whether its rape, abduction or whether they were sold by their relatives, we have put it as briefly as we could so that people understand what pain these girls have been through and contribute accordingly.

Coming to Richa, the actress, you’re not very old to the Indian film industry but you’ve carved a niche for yourself in such a short span of time. What do you have to say on that?

I just have been lucky. I have got good parts and have got chance to work with good directors. I am very happy that it has happened because times are changing and people want to do more challenging parts and am excited that people give me a chance to do them.

We’ve seen you being associated with characters that are off track, something completely different, something not seen or done before. Is it done deliberately or you make the characters that way?

The film makers want to give me those opportunities and I take them on, I like to take risks and I feel we should experiment when we are young. Once you get old people expect some kind of acting or some kind of performance from you and I don’t want to be labeled later so am doing whatever I can right now.

In what new avatar are we going to see you in the upcoming months?

You are going to see me playing a dancer in Cabaret which is the first for me, and you’ll see me doing a romantic role in Devdas which is the role of Paro and it’s going to be interesting and different.

You will also be seen in an Indo-American film, ‘Love Sonia’ Tell us about that.

It’s a great that I am going to be a part of it, and it again deals with human trafficking. And it’s pure coincidence that it’s just around the time when I am associated with Purnata, I am really happy to work in it.

On screen Richa is someone who doesn’t keep things to herself and speaks whatever she feels but how is Richa in her personal self?

I have done other characters in Masaan, Sarbjit which are very stifled characters and are subdued, who kept something inside and in silence but somehow people won’t remember those roles they only like the loud roles and I don’t like to label myself. But in real life I am just a normal girl.

Your message for your fans in Australia.

I am coming to Australia this month at the Melbourne Film festival and there will be Masterclasses that I will be a part of on movies and women in movies, I’m really excited to be there. (smiles).