Richa Chadha wants inclusivity for women working behind-the-scenes in Bollywood

PTI

Mumbai, March 6

Actor and producer Richa Chadha says she wants to work towards empowering women in traditionally male-dominated areas of the film industry, such as spot and lighting departments. 

The 37-year-old actor said for her debut home production ‘Girls Will Be Girls’ they trained and hired women in the lighting department.

Directed by Shuchi Talati, the film follows the journey of Mira, a 16-year-old girl whose rebellious awakening is intertwined with her mother’s unfulfilled coming-of-age experiences.

“Intentionality matters, and we have to try and do something. I turned producer with ‘Girls Will Be Girls’. The director is a woman. There was a sexuality thing in the film, so she wanted an all-female team. When you shoot, there’s an intimate scene and then there’s a man holding thermocol and you are told, ‘There’s not enough light, there was shadow, etc’, so you don’t always feel safe.

“In the lighting department, there are no women in India. We thought of doing a training programme for it. A company called ‘Light and Light’ (in Mumbai) sent a trainer. They spent time with girls teaching (them) storytelling through lighting, using technology. We hired one of them on our set,” Chadha said during a panel discussion at FICCI Frames on Tuesday evening.

The actor said while there has been “progress” in the representation of women in front of and behind-the-camera, a lot of work still needs to be done.

Condemning the recent incident of a Spanish woman’s gang-rape in Jharkhand’s Dumka district, Chadha said such “horrible” instances create a fear of “unsafe” atmosphere for women.

“We have made some progress. Every year it is better than last year. But then, it’s taking two steps forward and one step back. When something horrible happens in society, whether it’s in Manipur or Jharkhand, it sets people back in time because then parents are like, ‘It’s unsafe for you to study and work’. Women are not in a decision-making position in society,” she said.

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