Richa Chadha has always been a champion of feminism and has often called out sexism in the workplace. She often comes forward to show her support to fellow actresses in the industry. Last year, an interview clip featuring her went viral as she lent her support to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan saying ‘jalte hai log unse’ while slamming those who trolled the beauty queen for her appearance at the Paris Fashion Week. Recently, she was seen promoting and sharing the screen with several powerful women in Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, an experience which Richa truly cherishes.
And last week, she joined Shabana Azmi, Urmila Matondkar, Konkona Sen Sharma, Divya Dutta, Sandhya Mridul and Tannishtha Chatterjee at an intimate get-together at Dia Mirza Rekhi’s Mumbai residence. Dia shared the photos on Instagram with the caption, “I want to see you win (sic).” The post grabbed the attention of many, who cheered for them to break the stereotype of women actors not getting along.
But in an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Richa reveals that one woman’s win cannot amount to a win for her. “If it’s a toxic woman who maligns everybody else and who has been uncharacteristically nasty to gain attention and press, her victory isn’t my victory. We should celebrate everybody’s growth and evolution. But does it always happen? No,” she tells us candidly.
According to Richa, this mindset has stemmed from the many unpleasant experiences she’s had with powerful women in show business who have done her wrong but still wear a façade of feminism on social media. “I don’t think I subscribe to the fact that all women are saints. I’ve had some terrible experiences with female producers whose checks bounced and they pretend to be feminists on Twitter (now X),” she recalls.
The actor, who is preparing to embrace motherhood, further questions ‘the imposition of sisterhood on people’ saying that she doesn’t understand it. “I’ve also had toxic co-actors constantly competing with me by not giving the right cues and cutting out the lights in scenes. I can’t say that I have had a uniform, monolithic experience. Sisterhood definitely exists and it’s real when you build it, craft it and nurture it. But it takes more than one person to understand and create that,” shares Richa.
Sharing her thoughts on how the definition of feminism has been tweaked around, Richa explains, “I think it’s an anti-feminist notion to think that women are not capable of evil. That’s just a dumb thing. We have enough vile women around us. Women defending rapists are vile, corrupt and horrible but they’re often in positions of power. They’re often given a platform by the media too.”
The Gangs Of Wasseypur and Fukrey actor continues, “Am I supposed to just naturally assume that they’re feminists only because they have a vagina? No. I know plenty of women who are downright patriarchal and misogynist and plenty of men who are feminists. It’s not a gendered thing.”
Comments
0 comment