Riya Sharma and Unnati Joshi (BOMBAY TIMES; October 9, 2018)

Chitrangda Singh has faced her share of struggles when she ventured into a completely new field — production. The actress spoke to us about the kind of work she chooses to do as an actor and producer, the challenges she faced as a producer and her experience of studying at Lady Irwin College in Delhi.

‘COLLEGE WAS TOO MUCH WORK, I DIDN’T HAVE ANY FUN’
Chitrangda was a Science student before she chose to pursue Home Science in college. She recalls, “I stayed in the college’s hostel for three years. Maine Home Science ye sochke li thi ki being a Science student for so long, I was tired of studying. I thought I don’t want to work this hard, so Home Science leni chahiye. Somebody had told me that it is easy and I didn’t bother to check if that’s true. Admission mil gaya, and that’s when I realised we need to study everything in Home Science — from Zoology, Botany, Chemistry and Textiles to cooking and stitching. I was like, I can’t believe I have jumped into a bigger well from the one I was trying to jump out of. But it was a good experience. I wasn’t excited about the course, but it didn’t turn out to be the way I thought it to be. It was too much work though. I was making night suits for kids and I was stitching blouses so I wasn’t really having any fun.”

‘AS A PRODUCER, I LOOK AT THE VIABILITY OF A PROJECT IN TERMS OF WHETHER PEOPLE WOULD WATCH IT’
Chitrangda’s last project, Soorma, was her first film as a producer. She tells us that when she picks a project as an actress, she looks forward to working with the director. But when she is producing, the first thing she looks at is the viability of the project. “As an actor, you look at the director, and then the producer. Next, you see whether the project would make enough money or not. Being an actor, you are focused on the creative side of the film. As a producer, you look at the viability of the project in terms of whether people would come and watch it. For me, the transition from an actress to a producer had its hiccups. It was not smooth in the beginning, to be honest. I had to learn the business aspects of the industry. I was more excited about the creative side of films, which is something that I had been a part of since day one,” she tells us.

Many actresses who have turned producers have accepted that it is not easy to be a female producer in the industry. “It wasn’t smooth. I don’t know how fair it is to say this, but there is a reason why people give you a bit of a tough time. Being an actress, I didn’t know the business end and people had their doubts. It takes time to prove yourself and show people that you understand the project you are backing. Other than that, I have been very lucky as I haven’t faced many problems,” she shares.

‘SAIF HAS A MEAN SENSE OF HUMOUR’
Her next movie Bazaar releases next month, and she plays Saif Ali Khan’s wife in the film. “It was lovely working with Saif. He has got amazing timing as an actor and he makes it look very effortless. It is because he rehearses and puts a lot of work into it. He is fun on sets and has a very mean sense of humour which sometimes amazes me, but he is wonderful,” she signs off.
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‘WE, AS A SOCIETY, SHOULD SUPPORT TANUSHREE DUTTA’
At a recent event in Mumbai, Chitrangda spoke out in support of Tanushree Dutta. “If it is the truth and even if you speak about it after five years or 10 years, we must listen to it, give importance to it and do justice to it. I support Tanushree. She has taken 10 years to talk about it. In rape or molestation cases, most of the times, the victim doesn’t feel confident to speak about it immediately. But whenever they want to express themselves, then as a society, we should support them and give them a hearing at least.”

Chitrangda had also walked out of Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, citing discomfort shooting intimate scenes with co-star Nawazuddin Siddiqui. “That was my stand to walk out of the film. I believe that nobody gave importance to that matter that time. But that doesn’t matter, because now the media is doing an amazing job. The #MeToo movement shouldn’t be just about copying the West.”

— IANS