Richa Chadha on double win at Sundance: ‘Ali and I definitely have good taste’ helobaba.com
Actor-couple Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal are riding high on the doube win of Girls Will Be Girls at Sundance Film Festival 2024. We got in touch with Chadha who lauded director Shuchi Talati’s aesthetic sense that gave her an assurity of a good product.
Girls Will Be Girls is a coming-of-age drama of a 16-year-old girl and her complex relationship with her mother. The breakout film secured top honours in the World Cinema Dramatic Entry category, namely the Audience Award and the Special Jury Award for lead actor Preeti Panigrahi.
“An Audience Award at Sundance means people from all over the world watched and loved this story. This kind of recognition prolongs the journey of an indie film,” Chadha said.
“Even if subversive, it is a gentle film, and we didn’t really have to push the envelope here,” the 37-year-old actor-producer added.
Chadha, who’s picked unique scripts even as an actor, she asserted that she is excited to tell new and unique stories and “cinema is a powerful medium”.
Chadha and Ali, who tied the knot in 2022, announced their joint production banner Pushing Buttons Studios in 2021.
“We definitely both have good taste. So we will produce together, even if some projects are led by Ali, some by me or some other member of our team,” Chadha shared.
Mentioning how Girls Will Be Girls has impressed audience across the globe, Chadha opined that Indian content such as Delhi Crime, and filmmakers including Guneet Monga and Shaunak Sen winning is a huge push.
“Indian stories aren’t just one type of formulaic thing but are narratives that can travel across borders and earn global accolades,” she said.
So, what about her turn as an actor? Does such wins increase expectation even when she is infront of the camera?
“I don’t want to get ahead of myself. I have always danced to my own tune,’ she signs off.
