Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
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Richa Chadha is all set for her upcoming “Amazon Prime original “Inside Edge“. The actress loves to experiment things. She is currently playing Zarina Malik, a successful actress who also owns The Mumbai Mavericks, a cricket team. Chadha’s character struggles to hold her own in a male-dominated industry, where being undermined is routine. In other words, not very different from situations Chadha faces in her off-screen life.

“I don’t react to it anymore because it’s so prevalent,” says the 30-year-old actress comparing everyday sexism in showbiz to Mumbai’s traffic. “You just know it’s going to be there so you learn to deal with it.” And she has no handbook on tackling it: “You can’t predict how the traffic is going to be so you plan as you go. I tackle sexism depending on the situation.”

At the beginning of her career, when remarks such as “you’re not going to get any younger” were thrown at her during portfolio shoots, she didn’t understand them. But after spending close to a decade in the industry, she realised “this is just the way people talk in the industry.” It has made her wiser but certainly not immune. “I find it very uninspiring and demotivating,” she says.

“It’s not limited to showbiz,” she says, “just look at how female politicians are reported about.” No matter what their profession, women will always be asked questions about their clothes. “Does anyone ask men what bag they are using or whether they leave their home without sunglasses? ” adds Chadha. “It’s a trivialising of all our brains collectively.”

Known to be selective about her projects, Chadha keeps objectification in check. “It’s not like I won’t dance to a song, but I certainly have to agree with the concept of the music and lyrics,” she says.

There have been situations when Chadha has asked for her dialogues to be altered like she did during the making of Inside Edge, “There was a line which could be misconstrued as suggesting that all actresses have to sleep around to get work. I asked for it to be changed and they did. It’s important to have a team that is open to such suggestions.”

 “The show has some fantastically written female characters. Dias plays a glamorous host who also knows the sport and Gupta plays a sports analyst,” says Chadha.

Inside Edge premieres on July 10.