Richa Chadha: Unlike Sanjay Leela Bhansali, most directors cast you basis your earlier work

For actor Richa Chadha, collaborating with filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali on her next, Heeramandi, was one to tick off the bucket list, something she shared on her Instagram post, too. The actor believes that Bhansali has the ability to bring the best out of everything, including the actor, and hence working with someone like him is definitely a dream come true.

“He is somebody who holds himself to a very high standard in terms of delivering quality. So the quality shines through in everything that he does, whether it’s his music, the sets, the way he lights the scene, or simply the artistic references that he put in place. So everything is sort of cohesive and good quality,” she tells us.

While it may pull an artiste out of the comfort zone and build pressure to meet the standards of a Bhansali film, Chadha says, “More than pressure, it was a pleasure for her to work with someone like him, who understands the craft, who understands the references of art. When he is giving you a little input about a dance or a song, he’s giving it to you from a lived experience. He’s knows the difference between Kathak and Kathakali, which half the directors won’t know. When I find a culturally literate man like that, I am very happy to sublimate to him. If the person who wants to direct you doesn’t know the subject, or doesn’t know the world, it shows, and then I feel stuck, you feel unhappy.”

The Fukrey actor further adds that she would rather be with a “really learned, culturally aware, creative person” who pushes her to do her best, then to be with a director who will coddle her and be happy in three takes when he knows that in the 10th or the 11th, the magic will come. “I’m very happy to work hard. Is the director willing to work hard with me on it? That’s what matters to me,” she says.

On bringing the best out of the artistes, Chadha highlights how Bhansali looks beyond the obvious and recognise the potential that one holds, a quality that not many makers today possess. “Filmmakers today cast you basis the work you’ve already done. And then what they’re buying into is a stereotyped image that you have. They’re not thinking originally. That’s why, when you work with a director like Bhansali, definitely there is an emphasis on how he just creates really good stuff and bring the best out of you. For example, when I work with him, I know how to act with my whole being – my hands, my eyes, every inch of my body. And it difficult to act within that grammar because you can’t do chori…you can’t mumble your dialogue and say that, ‘Oh, this is my natural acting’. You can’t have bad diction. You have to enunciate. Words need to mean something. You can’t sound stupid. So, I really enjoy working with them, and I’m absolutely in love with him,” she shares.

But this was not the first time that Chadha collaborated with Bhansali. The two briefly worked together in Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013). And that’s why, when they reunited, she recalls that there was already an understanding.

“There was also a place of respect where he asked ‘How do you feel about this? How do you think’, and for me it’s exciting when I see a filmmaker who’s excited by my interpretation of roles, not just how it’s written on paper. And then based on your interpretation, you get to inhabit that role and flesh it out,” she wraps up.