Richa Chadha on India Today Mumbai Conclave: Independent cinema needs support

Actor and producer Richa Chadha, director, screenwriter and producer Kiran Rao and producer Guneet Monga were the guests on the first day of India Today Mumbai Conclave 2024. In a session titled Take II: How Women are Redefining Indian Cinema, the three powerhouse women of Hindi cinema discussed how women, not just in front of the screen but also behind it, have changed the landscape. They also spoke about their films doing well on a global level.
Guneet Monga, at the very beginning of the session, called Laapataa Ladies one of the most beautiful films of the year. She did not share tips to win Oscars, as she did with The Elephant Whisperers, but did share how the films make it to the top five. She said that it is important to promote one’s films and said, “It’s time to flex and put hoardings even on the moon.”
Richa Chadha said, “Independent cinema, of any kind, needs support. When you have structures in place and some amount of subsidy money, or soft money, it makes the jobs of the creators easier. Yes, we are doing something right in terms of the script, but the talent was always there. But that sort of soft money gave us a push.”
She also added, “It was written by my school friend. We are the girls from Girls Will Be Girls, and it is being taken to the international stage. Female friendship is so important. Female solidarity, sisterhood, female friendship is so important. I seek both professional and non-professional advice from them. I think female solidarity, women standing by each other, teamwork and looking out for each other, very very crucial. It’s good results in the world today.”
KIRAN RAO ON LAAPATAA LADIES AND NOT CASTING STARS
The story spoke to me, particularly because it was a story of two girls searching for their freedom, for their opportunity, for their voice. Stories like this interest filmmakers like me because I feel we don’t see enough stories of women and by women. I think it’s exceedingly important that we invest much more in women storytellers, in producers and actors and projects held by women. If anything, it made me realise that I am actually mostly aware and mostly interested in women’s experiences, and I’ll probably continue to have interesting women characters in everything that I do.