Is Richa the new Anushka?

Band Baaja Baaraat made Anushka Sharma the hottest girl in B-town almost overnight. Will the praise for her strong role in Gangs of Wasseypur (GOW) do the same for Richa Chadda? It certainly looks that way, because the actor says her phone has been ringing nonstop since GOW released on Friday.

Band Baaja Baaraat made Anushka Sharma the hottest girl in B-town almost overnight. Will the praise for her strong role in Gangs of Wasseypur (GOW) do the same for Richa Chadda? It certainly looks that way, because the actor says her phone has been ringing nonstop since GOW released on Friday.

“I am overwhelmed with the response that the film and my character has received,” says Richa with a grin. The actor plays Sardar Khan’s fiery and independent wife Nagma in the film.

GOW is her second release after Oye Lucky Lucky Oye (2008), and she’s already received compliments from Mira Nair, Dibakar Banerjee, Imtiaz Ali, Chandraprakash Dwivedi, Nishikant Kamat, Mohit Suri and Sudhir Mishra among others. Even hardened film critics have called her up to congratulate her. “I am grateful that not a single review has left me out. Though I was the main heroine, there were other actresses in the film and I thought I might get overshadowed. But I got noticed the most,” she claims.

Director Anurag Kashyap had assured her that she would get rave reviews, but Richa didn’t truly believe him at first. “I knew the role was good and substantial, but I never expected such a response.”

Comments like ‘You are the best performer of the year’ are keeping Richa smiling. “Manoj Bajpayee’s wife said she was glad she wasn’t acting as it would be tough to compete with my talent,” Richa smiles.

Is she willing to do song and dance routines? Richa states, “There is no shame in song and dance sequences. We have grown up on such films. But I also want substantial roles where I am not a prop. However, I don’t mean I will stick to alternative films. I am greedy about work and have no shame in saying so.”