MUMBAI: Actor Richa Chadha’s debut Bollywood film could have been Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D had she cleared the audition for the role of Chanda, which later went to Kalki Koechlin. 

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In a recent interview, the actor narrated how she was auditioned by filmmaker Vasan Bala, who was an Assistant Director on Dev D and was rejected since she didn’t look into the camera.

Speaking to Cyrus Broacha on his podcast Cyrus Says, Richa shared that though the film’s team liked her performance, they didn’t approve of her for the role of Chanda. 

“The feedback that I got from the team, and not from Bala, because he basically pushed for me, was that you are a brilliant actor, but because I had come from theatre, I didn’t cater to the camera. If the shot was here, I was looking there.”

The actor also recalled someone making an ‘off-hand remark’. “Someone from his team told, and it was an off-hand remark, ‘You don’t know how to pose for the camera, you don’t know about the camera, why don’t you do a pageant?”

However, in her opinion, Richa did well in the audition, but the main reason why she didn’t get the part was because she looked quite similar to Mahie Gill, who essayed the role of Paro in Dev D.

“They probably didn’t take me because the other girl in the film was Mahie Gill, who is a North Indian Punjabi girl, and they wanted someone very visually different from her,” said Richa.

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Dev D was a modern-day take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s classic Bengali novel Devdas. Directed by Anurag Kashyap, it became a cult hit and brought fame to those associated with it, including the lead actor, Abhay Deol. It also won several Filmfare awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Kalki Koechlin for playing Chanda.

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Credits - The Indian Express