Richa Chadha

Richa Chadha (born 18 December 1986 in Amritsar, Punjab) is an Indian actress renowned for her fearless roles in Hindi cinema. After a modest debut in Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008), she exploded onto the scene with Anurag Kashyap’s cult crime saga Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), earning the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress. Her razor‑sharp turn as the tough‑talking don Bholi Punjaban in the smash‑hit comedy Fukrey (2013) and its sequels (2017, 2023) cemented her commercial clout, while powerful performances in Masaan (2015), Section 375 (2019) and the hit series Inside Edge (2017–2021) showcased her range. A graduate of St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and daughter of a management‑firm owner and a political‑science professor, Chadha was honored internationally with France’s Order of Arts and Letters in 2023. She continues to dominate screens, most recently as courtesan Lajjo in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s series Heeramandi (2024), and has upcoming projects such as Anubhav Sinha’s Abhi Toh Party Shuru Hui Hai. In 2006 Chadha stepped behind the camera to write and direct the poignant 20‑minute documentary “Rooted in Hope,” and two years later she dazzled the runway at the Gladrags Megamodel Contest, all while holding B. R. Ambedkar as her guiding icon; her love story with actor Ali Fazal unfolded publicly—announcing an eco‑friendly wedding on 23 September 2022, tying the knot in Lucknow on 4 October 2022, and welcoming a baby girl on 16 July 2024. A 2014 PETA mermaid campaign saw her champion vegetarianism, she strutted Lakme Fashion Week’s catwalks and starred in the play “Trivial Disasters,” and her activism roared louder in January 2020 when she joined Taapsee Pannu and fellow stars protesting the JNU crackdown, while earlier she had denounced the December 2019 police raids on Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University students protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act. In June 2021 she launched The Kindry, a social‑media drive with entrepreneur Krishan Jagota to amplify everyday acts of goodwill, and she filed a public‑interest notice in May 2018 defending Hinduism from Hindutva forces, later tweeting that the faith was “in peril” and enduring threats from right‑wing trolls. Open about her interfaith marriage, Chadha stresses that her Punjabi father, Bihari mother and Fazal’s family embrace love without bigotry—a sentiment she summed up in a candid quote about India’s beautiful mix. After a controversial tweet about Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi’s Azad Jammu and Kashmir remarks sparked backlash, she promptly apologized and deleted the post in November 2022. Her cinematic contributions earned her the Bharat Ratna Dr. Ambedkar Award 2020 at Raj Bhavan from Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, France’s Order of Arts and Letters in 2023, and the Woman of Substance honor at the I Am Woman Awards in September 2024, where she declared that women’s rights are human rights.