Richa Chadha in Love Sonia. (Image courtesy: Instagram)
Highlights
- "I had to seek help of professionals," said Richa Chadha
- Richa Chadha plays the role of a brothel owner in Love Sonia
- She won best Supporting Actress prize at the Melbourne film festival
Richa Chadha, who plays the role of Madhuri a brothel owner in upcoming film Love Sonia, says she needed therapy to come out of her character in the "emotionally exhausting" film. Richa Chadha said that met several women who were rescued from brothels and listened to their horrific tales of sex trafficking which disturbed her emotionally. After shooting for over two months, Richa Chadha said she sought the professional help of psychologists to "resume her normal life." Richa Chadha, 31, said in a statement: "To immerse into the role, live through those emotions, learn those realities and accept them to essay the role of Madhuri took its toll on me. I had to seek help of professionals who are psychologists and find therapeutic ways to get myself out of the character to resume my normal life."
"The story of the film was gruelling and emotionally exhausting. To imagine as actors for us to go through this through the process of enacting living the life of these girls momentarily scars us. For me it wasn't an easy process. This character was more than just a role it was a life we had to lead and also pull out of it emotionally once we were through it," she added.
Richa Chadha revealed that she was initially hesitant about taking up the role but she eventually gave her consent to star in the film because she had faith in director Tabrez Noorani. Love Sonia is the story of Sonia (played by Mrunal Thakur), who is desperately tries to rescue her sister from the grueling world international sex trafficking.
Watch the trailer of Love Sonia:
Love Sonia has toured several international film festivals and it fetched Richa the Best Supporting Actress at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. Love Sonia was named the Best Indie film at the same film fest.
Love Sonia also stars Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkummar Rao, Freida Pinto, Anupam Kher, Adil Hussain, Demi Moore and Sai Tamhankar. The film releases on September 16 in India.