Richa Chadha recently shared an interesting anecdote about her experience while filming a solo dance sequence for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Heeramandi'. The actor revealed that she resorted to drinking alcohol in an attempt to perform the 'drunk dancing' sequence more authentically. However, contrary to her expectations, consuming alcohol made her performance worse, not better.
In an interview with Zoom, Richa discussed the challenges she faced during the filming. She mentioned that after numerous takes, she still couldn't get the dance right. "On the first day, I wasn’t getting it, to do the drunk dancing. So, after 30-40 takes, I thought let me have a quarter and see what happens. I did have some gin," Richa explained. This approach, she hoped, might bring some fluidity and authenticity to her portrayal of a drunken dance.
However, the result was not as she anticipated. "I drank a little bit, but it made things worse. I didn’t want that lethargy in the body movement, I wanted some of it, maybe the precision can go but I wanted to have some semblance of it," she stated. This experience led her to a realization that she was better off pretending to be drunk rather than actually drinking, as it gave her more control over her performance.
Richa, a self-proclaimed teetotaler, found the experience quite enlightening in terms of understanding her own acting process. She elaborated on her approach to performing, emphasizing the technicality and precision required in her work. "It is a technical job, no matter how much I dance, my dress is so heavy, I have to hit that mark, interact. It was fun for me to do," she mentioned, highlighting the demanding nature of filming dance sequences in Bollywood.
She further commented on her method of acting, indicating a preference for a more immersive and focused approach rather than method acting. "I can safely say that for every scene I have done on this show, and I know there aren’t too many, I was 100 percent into it. I was not distracted while giving cues also to someone else, I was not out of character even when I was dancing. It took a lot from me, but I loved it,” Richa said.
Richa Chadha's experience reveals the often unseen challenges actors face while trying to deliver the perfect scene. Her decision to experiment with alcohol to enhance her performance underscores the lengths to which actors sometimes go to embody their roles convincingly, even if the outcome teaches them what doesn't work.
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