Actress – entrepreneur Richa Chadha takes the new role of a mother! As the Indian actor and entrepreneur couple Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal is blessed with a daughter and good wishes are started to pour in, we look at how, Richa, has grown up from a youngster from the capital city of Delhi, to the internationally acclaimed actress, business owner, now a mother, after her recent huge success of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Heeramandi – acing the art of 'doing it all'

16 years ago, a young girl named Richa Chadha came to Mumbai, all the way from Delhi with a clear dream to become an actress! Starting her career as a model, she quickly shifted her gear in acting and made her debut in Bollywood with the film - Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! In 2008 and since then, she only established herself with wise choise of films, web series and a career graph that any budding actor can get inspiration from! Now that the actress has become the mother of her baby girl with her husband and another celebrated actor Ali Fazal, we take a quick look at four interesting points of her journey so far…

Debut, attack of 26/11 and Cannes: Though her role in her debut film Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! Was much loved by the audience when it was premiered on TV later, unfortunaltly the theatrical release of the film coincide with the deadly terrorist attack of 26/11 in Mumbai. The whole environment of the country was such that watching a film was certainly not on anyone's card. It oddly affected the box office collection of the film and eventually the whole cast and crew of the film suffered from it.

However, Richa is that Phoenix who managed to rise from the ashes when the film Gangs of Wasseypur was offered to her. But there she took another daring step and at the age of 21, she played the character of Nawazuddin Siddiqui's mother in the film. At a time, when the shelf life of a female actress was boxed, at a time when vanity was the only priority of most of the young actress! Eventually the film screened at the prestigious Cannes Directors' Fortnight in 2012!

Acting in OTT show when it wasn't 'IT' : The co-existence of web series and theatrical release is nota topic of discussion anymore as it is with the existence of TV, theatre and cinema. However, when it comes to web series and Bollywood stars are leading the show, back in 2017, it wasn't as cool as it appeared to be now. Richa was one of those celebrated actress from Bollywood who, after delivering successful films like - Fukrey, Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela, Masaan, Sarbjit, Fukrey Returns – made the choice of playing a pivotal part in the web series Inside Edge. It was one of the first web series by the first Hindi-language series distributed by Amazon Originals. Since then the OTT entertainment game has only evolved and Richa being one of the successful played of the scene, recently delivered the much talked about multi-starrer web series – Heeramandi, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

Actress turns entrepreneur: While the conversation on gender equality starts from freedom, in the recent past also Richa emphased on the importance of financial freedom and creating different source of income for women. As she lives by example, she, along with her husband and celebrated actor Ali Fazal who not only acted in Indian cinema and web series like Mirzapurbut also in Hollywood films – started their clothing brand Ehaab Couture. The brand is empowering the artisans of Lucknow who are known for their chicankari and other handloom as well as traditional hand embroideries.

Apart from celebrating the traditional handlooms, the couple also started their production house – Pushing Buttons Studios - to give wings to those young filmmakers who wants to bring a new language in Indian cinema, and find their own voice. So far they produced a award winning film – Girls Will Be Girls that won big is various international film festivals. They have multiple projects lined up for future.

Ri-Ali, a modern love story: The franchise film – Fukrey, Fukrey Returns and Fukrey 3 – was not only given the laugh riot and best memories for the Bollywood cinegoers but also Richa and Ali who played two crucial characters in the film – Bholi Punjaban and Zafar Bhai. Apparently, both of them started to know each other from the set of Fukrey and the initial friendship eventually turned into a life long journey. In a polarized society that we are living in, the love story and the inter-faith marriage of Richa and Ali is nothing less than a ray of hope we shall wake up to, everyday, to celebrate everything that the very essence of our culture is standing for – inclusivity and secularism.