Richa Chadha on working with Ali Fazal: ‘Now when I see him at home, it reminds me of deadlines’

Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal have been quite busy since the pandemic. They got married last year. They opened their production house Pushing Buttons Studios. But before all of this, they worked together on the podcast Virus 2062. (Also Read: 10 years of Fukrey: Richa Chadha reveals the entire cast knew about her and Ali Fazal being close)

Ahead of the debut of Season 2 on Spotify on July 4, the couple speaks in an exclusive interview about the thrills and challenges of making the podcast, why they’re eager to share screen space properly, and on building a production house together. Excerpts:

The first season of Virus 2062 was dropped when we were still reeling under the effects of the pandemic. It has been almost two years now. So how has Season 2 shaped up given the distant vantage point?

Richa: People haven’t really forgotten the pandemic. The collective loss we faced as a community wasn’t some small lose. Everyone lost someone in their families. There’s a deliberate distance also. There’s a need to forget, a need to move on, a need for survival to be able to move away from that reality. But I do believe that when people hear this podcast, at least some aspect of the time travel story and the isolation will remind them of their time alone during the pandemic.

A lot of advancement has also happened in terms of science and technology. Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT and metaverse have become part of daily parlance. Will this evolution of discourse help your audience to get up to speed with your sci-fi podcast?

Ali: People are prepared for what they’ve experienced. That’s how it works. We were thrown into the deep end with the pandemic. Of course, with AI and the metaverse coming in, an average man who can think on their feet knows all of this comes with glitches. Even manifested viruses. It’s all a possibility now. We know the state can control and tell you one day, ‘Hey. Lock your doors. Take this jab.’ Everybody knows. It’s all about where you stop thinking and where you start thinking. It’s all a vicious circle, and AI is only going to make it worse. It’s going to be a hell of ride. I don’t know if it’s good or bad in reality but for the show, it’s a fun listen. And it’ll definitely bend minds.

You guys did this show when Bollywood actors hadn’t started to jump on the podcast bandwagon. But now there’s been a Hindi adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. Marvel’s Wastlelanders recently released as well. How do you think an audio show adds to your skill set?

Richa: As actors, especially when you’re working in theatre, you’re told the no. One thing you have to work with is your voice. I think the chance to do a podcast like this is very exciting because it restricts one aspect and lets only one aspect in, which is the voice. It removes the body from the toolkit. I really love to be able to work on just one sense and have fun with it. Podcasts are like books where you don’t have a visual and you’re forced to imagine pictures.

Ali: For us, it’s also something we want to explore further. I think the universe of podcast is yet to be dived into. Because there’s your voice, then you have sounds like spatial audio. Which means you can literally create entire universes and make the audience believe in them. Kind of what VR would do, but without visuals.

You’ve acted together in the Fukrey franchise. But Ali, you’re not in Fukrey 3. How has then working as creators on this podcast and your production house Pushing Buttons Studios helped you to collaborate in a fresh capacity?

Richa: We haven’t really shared the screen space a lot. Only in Fukrey and one episode of a web series in which we played ourselves (Call My Agent Bollywood). I’d actually love to work more with Ali, whether it’s on stage or a film. Working on this production house together hasn’t been easy. I was just telling him that I don’t know how smart it is to be living with the work. Now when I look at him, I remember deadlines, calls I need to make and emails I need to send (laughs). I don’t want to think of only these when I see him. So far, I’ve loved collaborating with him so it’s been worth it.

Ali: There’s some laalach (greed) though that we get the right script to work together. Because I see her working on her movies and I sometimes get jealous that I want to experience the process from the other end. I think it’d be really cool. I’d rather wait for the right one to come. Even though we’re producing together, honestly we haven’t done work together, which I hope manifests soon.

You started your Bollywood careers with Oye Lucky Lucky Oye (2008) and 3 Idiots (2009) respectively. But your breakthroughs didn’t come before Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) and Fukrey (2013). Now that you’re launching new talent, how do you plan to mentor them so that they don’t end up struggling after their first break?

Richa: I don’t think we’re producers big enough to launch anyone. We can cast good actors in good films and that’s about all we can do really. Like we did, they’ll have to make their own mistakes and learn how to navigate the business. Unfortunately, that’s not something that can be taught. Certainly, as an outsider, I don’t have any lessons for anyone else. I’m still just reeling from my own mistakes.

Ali: I have one. I’m hopefully going to book tickets for them to travel the world, watch cinema all across, come back and learn their lesson. Not get stuck in their bubble. Be able to think on their feet and not get bogged down or caged in. I don’t think we can decide their futures. I don’t think anybody should be able to control their futures. But we can definitely be catalysts and help them catapult into the big world outside, not the world we’re used to and the validations that have shaped and unshaped so many personalities around us in India.

You’ve recently worked with greats like Sanjay Leela Bhansali in Heera Mandi and Vishal Bhardwaj in Khufiya respectively. Now that you’re turning producers, what have you learnt from them as creators that you can apply to your own projects?

Richa: What I’ve learnt from Sanjay Leela Bhansali I think would be his insistence on quality. He’s very particular about what he puts out and how it looks in the frame. His sense of which backdrop, which colour, what costume, which kind of make-up, embroidery, candles, down to the dialogue to the rhythm and the feel of the scene. It’s been really fun to work with him and watch him. You learn a lot by watching him. I’ll keep remembering the lessons many years down the line.

Ali: Man, I really hope I get to work with him (Sanjay Leela Bhansali). He’s really cool. Of course, I had to learn a lot from Vishal ji. But you learn more about yourself, working with him. That’s his style of directing. He really kind of ends up sowing seeds in you that end up growing his way (laughs). It’s his garden. I love when there’s smart manipulation to bring creators on the same page to create something magical off the page.

Richa, you recently announced your international debut with the Indo-British film Aaina. Do you view it as a launchpad into a global career, like Furious 7 or Victoria & Abdul were for Ali?

Richa: Oh wow. I’m just happy to be an actor anywhere and I’m grateful that I get paid for my favouritest hobby. Having said that, I’m not delusional. I’m working on a small indie Indo-UK film, and not a big studio film like Victoria & Abdul or like the multi-continent multistarrer like Fast & Furious. So I have no such delusions about what this film might do. However, having said that, it’s a great team to work with. And I’m excited to check out the aesthetic and the sense of storytelling of someone from another part of the world. I’m excited for a new portion of the world to see me, to work in a new setting. A lot of the dialogues are in English. It’s kind of like a Hinglish film so that’s fun and challenging.

Ali: I think she’s downplaying it. I’m very excited for her. It’s an Indo-British film but it’s a great way to enter that market. I’ve also just done an indie and I think that’s the way forward. Because the world is getting smaller.

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