Richa Chadda with her co-actors Shweta Tripathi (l) and Vicky Kaushal (c) at a promotion of their Cannes-winning movie “Masaan,” in Kolkata, July 19. (Press Trust of India)

She has made a career out of portraying complex characters and now Richa Chadda is happy that finally she is being offered commercial roles, writes Nanda Das.

Fresh from the success of “Masaan,” Richa Chadda is now busy with Pooja Bhatt’s “Cabaret.”

“It is a great part and I am really happy that I finally got a commercial role in the industry. Earlier, they would shy away from offering me mainstream characters,” Richa told PTI.

The actress, who started her career with Dibakar Banerjee’s “Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!” has already touched many hearts with her poignant portrayal of an ambitious small town girl in “Masaan,” who unwittingly gets caught in a web of corruption.

Richa said she will continue to play roles that are different despite the stereotyping of such actors.

“I am trying to pick roles that are interesting to me and are different so that I can continue to do good work. I don’t want to be slotted into a particular part. I want to be versatile.

“Right now, my only slot is that I am a good actor or I am an off-beat actor. I can live with that. But I can’t live with the tag that I am good only for specific roles,” she said.

There were reports that “Cabaret” is based on Helen’s life but Richa denied it.

“It’s not on Helen. The rumors started after I was spotted reading a book on Helen. I was reading it generally and people presumed that I am going through it because ‘Cabaret’ is based on it.”

Richa is taking special classes to master the dance for the movie, which also stars Gulshan Devaiah.

“The shooting is on. I will begin filming my part after this month (July) as we have only finished the first leg of the shoot. We still have two more to go and now we are going to work on songs. The movie is shaping up well,” she said.

Richa will be next seen in Sudhir Mishra’s “Aur Devdas,” where she will essay the role of “Parvati,” a role that has been portrayed by actresses like Suchitra Sen and Aishwarya Rai.

“It’s a different Paro (Parvati) in Sudhir sir’s film. She is more empowered this time,” she said about the movie, which is a political take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s famous novel.