I prefer doing films over plays because they’re easier: Richa Chadda

Actress Richa Chadda started her acting career in theatre before she moved to Bollywood, where she has carved a niche for herself by doing offbeat movies. During her recent trip to Bangalore — when she acted in the play Trivial Disasters with Kalki Koechlin, Purab Kohli and Cyrus Sahukar — she spoke to BT about theatre in the Garden City and whether she would do international plays. Excerpts...
BANGALORE AND THEATRE
Bangalore is a very cultured city, it’s a very literate city.We did a dark comedy, which has inverted humour. It’s an experimental play, so we thought that people in Bangalore would like it and get it, which is why we chose to premiere it here. This was my first play in Bangalore, but I know there’s a whole culture here — there’s Ranga Shankara and people who regularly watch theatre. There’s a lot of good theatre that comes out of Bangalore. They respond well to theatre in general, irrespective of language.
PLAYING MULTIPLE CHARACTERS IS MORE FUN
Everybody in the play is playing many characters, as it’s nine short stories. I play four characters. I think it’s more fun to jump in and out of character because we get to see our variety. If you do one character, then you have to really work on that character and be sure of what’s going on. But in this kind of format and this kind of comedy, it’s very interesting. It’s like watching a few very interesting jokes being performed.
WORKING WITH FELLOW FILM ACTORS-TURNED-THEATRE ARTISTS
It’s fun to work with other film actors on a play because everybody has the same sensibilities and thought. Everybody’s enjoying being here and putting a piece of theatre together. They’re all on the same page in terms of creating something.
FILM VERSUS THEATRE
I prefer doing films because they’re easier (laughs). I also love theatre and I think as and when time permits, I will come back to it. Would I do international theatre? It depends because theatre internationally is very different from the way it works here. They don’t just ask for some dates; you do a play for four years, Monday to Friday. So if you are approached by an international production, it has to be worth your while. And if you move abroad and you start working on a Broadway play, you have to say bye bye to your Indian career for those two years or whatever.