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Published 16:08 IST, July 17th 2020

Richa Chadha says ‘An actor had a press release ready even before Irrfan Khan died’

Richa Chadha took to her blog to pen her thoughts on hypocrisy in Bollywood and incidents she has come across. Read on to understand what the actress wrote.

Reported by: Shrishaila Bhandary
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Actor Richa Chadha first spoke about nepotism back in 2014 as per her blog. As per Richa, she has never shied away from penning down her opinion. Her words expressed her disappointments with how the industry works and more. Under the title ‘An unpopular opinion…’ Richa expressed keeping all names under wraps about her dismissals from the industry. Her blogpost described that a part of the industry is ‘cynical and hypocrisy thrives at this moment’.

Also Read | When Tom Hanks Wanted To Steal Irrfan Khan's Acting Style While Working On 'Inferno'

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Richa Chadha on the nepotism debate 

The blog describes her ‘beautiful friend’ later actor Sushant Singh Rajput and calls back on all the discussions around mental health care, nepotism and the Bollywood environment. She started the blog with a short excerpt of a poem by Sahir Ludhianvi. She continues to say, “Sahir Ludhianvi’s words have rung like a requiem in my ears for days on end in the past month.  There has been much chatter about nepotism and too little about what this environment can do to a person’s mental health. All this in the wake of suicide by a beautiful actor who happened to be an old friend.“  

Also Read | Irrfan Khan’s Wife Shares Throwback Pic Of Late Actor, Remembers Their North Bengal Tour

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Richa Chadha recalled on some incidents in her career which made her difficult to trust people. She described her dilemma when she felt betrayed by her own crew, whose name she did not mention. She wrote, “In this business, one can’t even trust one’s own agency/manager because they will steal from you, even though as the talent you may deposit all your trust and confidence in that one person/agency. I had once confronted an ex-agent of mine if he thought it was wrong to steal from one’s own client. This desi Hagrid brazenly declared “ye toh sab karte hain”. If you’re going to make a rotisserie out of the goose that lays golden eggs, that’s the last meal you will have from said goose. But this is a standard operating procedure in our business.

Also Read | Richa Chadha Bats For Gender Parity In Film Industry; Holds 'equality Is Non-negotiable'

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Richa Chadha's long ordeal was put together in some harsh but realistic statements as per the blog. She continued saying, “I saw journalists, publicists, film promotion people post messages of how they were sick of the business and its ‘toxicity’. Some among these are the most venomous people you might come across. They don’t think twice before sacrificing anyone’s life and sanity at the altar of headlines and TRPs. They themselves could be under-investigation on charges of fraud, rape, paedophilia but will not desist from participating in the demonstration of the very hierarchy they claim to hate. They cannot even spell the word ‘hypocrisy’ correctly but still sit in judgement, sometimes as a wannabe ‘woke’ Twitterati and sometimes as interviewers who provoke and lie shamelessly.”

Richa Chadha on anonymous actor's behaviour before Irrfan Khan's death  

Richa wrote, "I know of this “responsible” journalist who angrily called up Irrfan Khan's staff hours before his passing to prod if he had indeed passed on. Then later to complain about not being the first to know, because he couldn’t get the ‘breaking news’. I know of an actor that had a press release sent out even before Irrfan had passed so that they could milk the tragedy and be in the same frame one last time."

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Richa Chadha on 'current times' 

Richa Chadha continued that entertainment journalist went so far to reach the doorstep of her boyfriend Ali Fazal’s house when his mother was not well. When she passed away, he was asking for more details about the death and if he can receive shots of ambulance or the body. She continued to claim that some of the esteemed filmmakers who expressed condolences after Sushant passed away are the same people who are people who ‘have run down movies of their peers pre-release, have replaced actresses who refused to sleep with them at the last minute and several have in fact repeatedly forecasted ‘iska kuch nahi hoga’.”

Also Read | Richa Chadha On Bollywood's Hypocrisy & Nepotism: 'It Makes Me Laugh Out Loud'

16:08 IST, July 17th 2020