Richa Chadha has gone full influencer mode, using her new travel show, Musafiri, to spotlight a region’s lesser-known gems while drawing attention to realities we live with today. “It doesn’t make sense to ignore them. The question for me was: how do you tell people about these realities and get them to care about things?” she says.
A theme-based travel show, Musafiri’s first season explores Mumbai. The series looks beyond the city’s familiar landmarks. One segment explores how Mumbai once had an important Armenian presence through the 230-year-old St Peter’s Armenian Church in Kala Ghoda. Another turns its attention to Gilbert Hill, the ancient basalt formation in Andheri that dates back around 66 million years. “I’ve been speaking about many issues. It’s a problem I have, I think,” Chadha laughs. “That’s why I accept the anti-national tag because these issues are not about politics but human lives.”
In the series, Chadha chats with Mumbaikars, while historians, ethnographers and other experts provide insights. The idea is to make history, ecology and culture accessible.
Chadha has also consciously chosen YouTube over an OTT platform for Musafiri, because she believes educational content should be free. “It’s not so much about the money. That’s a small financial hit that I will recover,” she explains. “It’s about the risk of doing something so new and whether it will create the impact we intend. I’m also doing it for Gen Z because I have a lot of hope in them, when I know that they’re not reading books. So, I hope that they use the show as a starting point to build curiosity.”
The idea had been with her for about a year and a half, while active work on the series began roughly a year ago. “It took a bit of time because I was a new mom and I was dealing with an identity crisis and other issues postpartum,” she shares. Now, Chadha is ready to go with several projects. “I have just wrapped up a show on an OTT platform, coming out next year. I also have a feature film based in Delhi, directed by Shashie Verma. I’m really excited about the film and also working with Ali (Fazal),” she says. “For the first time, we’ll be opposite each other.”
The actor has never been a side note in any of her films, and says that’s something she wants to retain. She has been offered everything from double-meaning comedies to gentler films but would like to “straddle both worlds,” and continue doing independent and commercial cinema.
As for which films from her career she would most like her daughter Zuneyra Ida to watch, the choices are unsurprising. “Definitely Masaan and Gangs of Wasseypur when she’s 18 years old. I’d also like her to watch Fukrey when she is about seven or eight, maybe. I’d like her to watch Musafiri; this will be a safe show for kids to see.”
Chadha’s roster of upcoming projects also includes Aakhri Somwar, a script she has written herself and hopes to take forward once it finds funding. More significantly, she has written the film with herself in mind. “I think it’s nice when actors also write for themselves; they tap into untapped areas of their own personality,” she says.