Richa Chaddha, Actor: Don’t Try To Please Everyone

Richa Chaddha, Actor: Don’t Try To Please Everyone

I  was always certain of one thing – I wanted to act. And I did everything that I needed to do to be good at my craft: theatre, workshops, modelling, knocking on every door and waiting for it to open.

And I also heard it all – sweet talk, criticism and unwanted advice. People told me to get a boob job, get rhinoplasty, lose weight and be more “presentable”. I was told to fit the “Bollywood” template by almost everyone. And for a while, I did try and mould myself to everybody’s expectations. But nothing came of it. I faced rejection left, right and centre for months and years.

I don’t belong to Mumbai. I don’t come from a family that has any inclination towards glamour or Bollywood. My mum’s a professor at Delhi University and my dad is a management consultant. Nothing in my background could really prepare me for the kind of rejection and emotional turmoil that I was going through. So all I could do was to hope. And hope is what I stuck to. I continued doing theatre with Barry John, who thankfully had moved to Mumbai and it was while performing in one of his plays that a flicker of hope called Dibakar Banerjee came in.

Dibakar was a small-time director scouting around for a fresh face for a small role in Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!. He was just one film old but was talked-about. I was signed on. The movie became a hit. I was noticed but that didn’t mean anything. Small, inconsequential roles were all I was offered, if at all. I auditioned for Dev.D. Anurag Kashyap loved it but signed Kalki Koechlin instead! A filmmaker friend signed me for his new film, told me to block my dates and gave me the script to prepare. I was raring to go when, just two days before the shoot was to begin, he told me I was being replaced because I wasn’t “glamourous enough”.

I wallowed for days, cried, cribbed but couldn’t give up! The rejections made me realise one thing: that whatever I did, I wouldn’t be able to make everybody happy. I would just lose myself trying to be someone else. So I focused on what was my best asset. My talent as an actress. I did plays, workshops, travelled to Chennai and Pondicherry and joined Theatre Professionals to hone my skill. Then, two years after Oye Lucky…, Anurag called me to do Gangs Of Wasseypur. And yes, it has changed my life. But after a smash hit, awards and all the glory, the struggle continues.

I still face rejection. In fact, it happened early this year. But now I too can reject offers. I am not going to compromise or change just to please somebody or everybody. That is my vindication.
– As told to Tavishi Paitandy Rastogi
Scorecard
1 Be happy in your skin. Don’t try to be someone else or you’ll lose yourself.
2 Know your goals and never lose your focus.
3 You may be criticised and rejected. Cry and crib but don’t lose hope.
4 Keep working towards your goal. Do everything that you have to hone your skills.