Richa Chadha: Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil’s characters are my inspiration for Love Sonia

Actress Richa Chadha, who has been playing  unconventional roles right from her first film will be seen yet again in a very challenging role. The Masaan actress will seen playing a brothel owner in Love Sonia. The film touches on a very sensitive subject, the international crisis of sex trafficking.

There have been many Bollywood actors who played commercial sex workers in the past and most of them have found it tough to play the part without giving into the sterotypes. Shyam Benegal's Mandi was one such film which showed that a sex worker was an individual too.

Richa watched the film Mandi a number of times to pick up diction, body language and clothing tips to get into the skin of her character Madhuri. Shabana Azmi played the role of brother owner in Mandi, Richa taking the cue from Shabana's role prepared herself to play the part.

“Mandi is a classic, a film and a compelling story told on celluloid by the maestro Shyam Benegal. Shabanaji and Smitaji essayed their roles with such ease and perfection. I idolise them in my real life too and I have great admiration for their work. When love Sonia came to me, and when I begun my prep for it, I wanted to study as much as possible to be the character Tabrez had etched for me. I took to watching this movie specifically. For anyone who’s seen this film, will know the nuances the film has essay so well. The world created in Mandi was a great reference point for me. The diction, the body language, the behaviour of the characters on screen, it really help me do justice to my role of Madhuri in the film. I tried to copy Soni razdaan's body language as well! Actresses like Anita Kanwar were so uninhibited.“

This role is Richa’s ode to all the brilliant actors who were on that set, who helped change the way Hindi Cinema looked at sex work, the lives of sex workers and the paradoxes within society that lead to their marginalization.

Love Sonia is all set to release on 14th September across India and cast included Manoj Bajpai, Mrunal Thakur, Richa Chadha, Frieda Pinto, Sai Tamhankar, Rajkummar Rao, Anupam Kher and Demi Moore.