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Richa Ahuja

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Richa Ahuja
Born16 September 1973
OccupationActress
Years active1992–2001
SpouseKash Badami
Children3
ParentSushma Ahuja

Richa Ahuja (born 16 September 1973) is a former Indian actress. She has acted in Hindi, Tamil, English, and French films and plays.

Career

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Richa is the daughter of New Delhi-based vocalist and playwright, Sushma Ahuja, and a Pakistani Hindu father. Richa Ahuja acted in several plays right from her childhood through her acting career on screen. She made her first film appearance in Praying with Anger (1991), an experimental English film, which also marked the directorial debut of M. Night Shyamalan during his days as a student. She then moved on to perform in Hindi and English theatre as well as projects in Chennai, where she lived. She also trained under Ebrahim Alkazi, the founder of the National School of Drama New Delhi, when he formed the Living Theater Academy of Drama and featured in six of his productions. At the same time, she worked as a video jockey for Mirch Masala of Plus Channel,[1] interviewing prominent actors such as Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna. Subsequently, she began to receive offers to play roles in Hindi televisions serials and appeared in Parampara, Safar, Sathya and Shanti. She then got an offer for a Tamil serial, Suzhal and relocated to Chennai, after which she also featured in Oviyam and Panam Penn Pasam.[2][3]

Richa had been looking to get a breakthrough in film roles, and an offer from Mani Ratnam also did not eventually materialize. She then appeared in her mother Sushma Ahuja's directorial venture, the 1998 romantic film Uyirodu Uyiraga, featuring Richa alongside Ajith Kumar. Richa took up the offer, after another popular actress had opted out of the role due to date issues. Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, with whom Sushma worked in the silent movie Pushpak, encouraged Richa to take up this project.[4] The film was reportedly based on a real event which had occurred in the early 1990s.[3] The film released to positive reviews from film critics. A reviewer praised the film as "a clean movie with no masala stuff" but criticized the "weak story-line", while also praising the performances in the film.[5] During a holiday to France, she became involved in a French adaptation of Girish Karnad's play Hayavadana and subsequently learnt the language and appeared on stage for the play 45 times. She then relocated to France to feature in a film titled Le Mystère Parasuram (2000), which took almost two years in production.[6] Despite the average success of her previous Tamil film, her next Tamil venture, Mani Ratnam's Dumm Dumm Dumm saw her feature alongside Madhavan and Jyothika in a secondary supporting role. She had earlier been in touch with the production studio, Madras Talkies, for a potential lead role.[2]

Filmography

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Year Film Role Language Notes
1992 Praying with Anger Rupal Mohan English
1997 Ziddi Guddi Hindi
1998 Uyirodu Uyiraga Anjali Tamil
2000 Le Mystère Parasuram Indra Hamsa French
2001 Dumm Dumm Dumm Asha Tamil

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Aarkay (29 April 2000). "Oscar spurned, but not burned". Rediff.com. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  2. ^ a b Kumar, S. R. Ashok. "Looking beyond stardom". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ^ a b "1997-98 Kodambakkam babies Page: Part 2". Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ Mahesh, Chitra. "The Hindu : Fame from many quarters". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Uyirodu Uyiraaga: Movie Review". www.indolink.com. Archived from the original on 11 December 2000.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ Pescheux, Viviane (2000). "Le Mystère Parasuram". Télé 7 Jours (in French). Retrieved 7 September 2023.
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