Richa Chadha furious at restaurant for not letting woman wearing saree in, calls it ‘residue of post-colonial trauma’

Delhi restaurant Aquila is under fire from social media after they refused to let a woman wearing a saree in. In a viral video, a woman asked a member of the restaurant staff why she is not being let in. “Ma’am, we allow only smart casuals and saree does not come under smart casuals. That’s it,” she is told.

Actor Richa Chadha also took to Twitter to vent her anger at the restaurant and the video. “This snobbery- denouncing our traditional clothes, looking down upon our own languages is the residue of post-colonisation trauma. It also creates a fertile breeding ground for fascism that exploits this very trauma. The Sari is smart, your policy isn’t! #SariNotSorry #Aquila,” she wrote in her tweet.

Others on Twitter also disagreed with the restaurant’s policy. “Seriously. Such eating places have no right to even exist in independent India. I am sure the license needs to be cancelled for such restaurants/clubs who are against ethnic wear,” wrote one. “Denying entry because the patron is dressed in torn, shredded jeans or is wearing inappropriate footwear is perfectly understandable, but refusing entry for being draped in a saree is absolute stupidity. The management of the restaurant-bar should be strictly penalised for this action,” wrote another.

Also read: Richa Chadha on moving in with Ali Fazal: ‘No unnecessary burden on me alone to be taking care of the house’

The restaurant has since being review-bombed on Zomato and its aggregated rating current stands at 2 stars. Zomato has put up a message for patrons on the restaurant’s page that reads: ‘This restaurant is receiving a lot of media attention due to recent events. We are monitoring all reviews closely to ensure that they comply with our content guidelines.”

Richa was last seen in the thriller web series Candy with Ronit Roy. She also release a podcast titled Virus 2062 with her boyfriend, actor Ali Fazal.

Her upcoming projects include Six Suspects with Scam 1992 star Pratik Gandhi. It is based on Vikas Swarup’s 2008 novel of the same name.