Richa Chadha, who plays Lajjo in Heeramandi, hopes that after watching the Netflix series people associate the word tawaif with dignity

Nonika Singh

A ‘nurturing and good looking’ life partner, a baby on the way and ‘baby steps’ into the world of production and icing on the happiness cake, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus Heeramandi in which she plays a key part is ready to stream on Netflix…. Touch wood! Even before the talented actress Richa Chadha can utter the word, we echo similar thoughts.

Life is good, admits the Masaan actress.

Though she has proved her mettle in more than one film, Bhansali’s Heeramandi is a special one. It’s the first time she plays a dancer and had to reconnect with Kathak, a dance form she had learnt in early formative years. As she calls her part of courtesan Lajjo, ‘female Devdas,’ we wonder whether her reference points were reel Devdas’ Dilip Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan or the ultimate tragedy queen Meena Kumari.

She shares that it’s indeed the late actress who herself played the part of tawaif to perfection in Pakeezah. Richa not only had Meena Kumari’s onscreen performances in her mind but also off-screen heartbreaks, her struggles with addiction and more. “It’s Mr Bhansali’s and my tribute to her.”

Bhansali, with whom she has worked previously too in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, is undeniably a tough taskmaster but ‘not aimlessly tough’. Since he would not settle for anything less than perfect, Richa adds, “I would not mind doing 100 re-takes for him.” Guess what, for a particular scene of dance in Heeramandi she came rather close — 99 retakes.

Interestingly, Bhansali’s presence on the sets also ensures that despite an ensemble cast of so many actresses, including Manisha Koirala and Sonakshi Sinha, there is no rivalry. She chuckles, “When you have such an alpha as the captain of the ship, there is no room for women to have an ego or bicker among themselves. Anyway, he makes his women old, young, those who have small or major parts, look beautiful, for visual aesthetics is so important to him. Moreover, so high are his standards that invariably parts in his films also end up being actors’ most memorable ones.”

For Richa, it was a conscious choice to play this hopeless romantic Lajjo as against other grey characters in the series. Breaking away from stereotypes is something that she has consciously worked upon. Indeed, there is more than one Richa in this Bholi Punjaban of Fukrey franchise and Nagma Khatoon of Gangs of Wasseypur.

She reasons, “If I were to play similar characters in film after film, I would be bored and so would my audiences. It’s an actor’s job to create something new. There should be an element of surprise for the audience, otherwise why would they put in their time and money.”

The million dollar question — why should they invest in eight-episode Heeramandi, a tale of courtesans, far removed from their reality of today? She says, “It’s shared history of our sub-continent. If you don’t know your context, you are lost.” She was well-clued in to the fact that there was a place in Lahore called Heeramandi where courtesans had so much sway over society. The series, she so hopes, would make people realise how these courtesans were not just nautch-girls but ones because of whom so many elements of culture survived. “Their contribution to poetry, music (Thumris) and dance (Kathak) can’t be overlooked,” she says.

How challenging was it for a contemporary woman like her to step back in time and become an authentic and integral part of 1940s? Director’s vision and writing help, but she insists, “You have to do your own research.” In the same breath, she also reminds, “No one does period cinema like Mr Bhansali.”

As she and her husband Ali Fazal have started a production house and are winning accolades for their film Girls Will Be Girls, would this Punjaban care to promote Punjabi cinema and talent from her home state? She nods, “Punjabi cinema is at a very interesting phase today almost where Marathi cinema was, say, 10 years ago.”

She, who has recently seen Chamkila and is a self-confessed Diljit Dosanjh fan, would not only care to produce a Punjabi film but also love to act in a coming- of-age Punjabi film. Her Punjabi as of now is more Delhi-wasi kind… but she will brush up this ‘sweet beautiful’ language if the role demands. After all, the biggest takeaway from her exacting director Bhansali has been ‘absolute insistence on quality.’