Richa Chadha talks about her Fukrey character Bholi Punjaban and how she is a ‘much-loved’ character despite being a villain.
Richa Chadha is back to paying Bholi Punjaban in Fukrey for the third time. Fukrey 3 released in theatres last week and is running successfully across India. The actress’ much-loved character from the franchise has become her identity for many fans. But Richa says she is unable to understand why many men ‘fetishise’ the character despite her being a bully.
In a chat with DNA, Richa shares what it is like to return to playing Bholi after every few years. “It’s like meeting my worst bully, my most cantankerous, rowdy, gundi self. Maybe I was like that when I was 12, when I was beating up boys. I am always trying to tell myself to behave,” she says.
And while Bholi is all that and much more (a politician running a criminal syndicate), she is a crowd favourite. A perplexed Richa says, “People seem to love it, especially the men. I don’t understand why they love Bholi. Some men are weirdly kinky. I think it’s a temporary fetish. They’ll get over it the moment they meet her in person.”
But Richa isn’t too surprised with how Bholi has become such a popular character. “Typically in India, people give a lot of love to villains. It doesn’t happen as much in other places. But here, whether it is Mogambo or others, they have all been iconic from the time of Prem Chopra to Ranjit. They all had their own taqiya-kalaams (signature lines) and people loved them as much as they loved the heroes. I feel it’s that. Bholi is the villain and then she is a female villain who is really unafraid, who will say whatever comes to her mind,” she says.
Richa feels that Bholi will be able to leave her mark in years to come. “Because she conducts herself like a business woman, there is a tinge of humour. She is a very ballsy character, which is why people love her. It’s refreshing. You don’t see things like this very often,” says the actress.
Directed by Mrighdeep Lamba, Fukrey 3 also stars Pulkit Samrat, Varun Sharma, Manjot Singh, and Pankaj Tripathi. The film released in theatres on September 28 and is steadily inching towards the 100-crore mark at the box office.
