Richa Chadha On Being Awarded Bharat Ratna Ambedkar: To Not Understand The Caste System, Is To Not Understand India

Actor Richa Chadha has been awarded the Bharat Ratna Ambedkar award. The actor took to Instagram to express her happiness and her thoughts at receiving the award.

She wrote: “Thrilled to be among the recipients of the Bharat Ratna Ambedkar award, conferred upon me by the H’ble Governor of Maharashtra. I woke up to the greatness of the giant that was Babasaheb very late in life, perhaps due to my caste privilege! To not understand the caste system, is to not understand India. The awardees included people that cared for the plight of others during Covid as well ! Jai Bhim! Jai Hind! Thank you.” Richa shared two pictures as well -- one where she is lighting candles in front of pictures of Lord Buddha and Babasaheb Ambedkar, and in another, where she was seen receiving the award.

Many of her friends congratulated her for the honour. Tillotama Shome wrote: “Salam Richa” while Konkona Sen Sharma said: “Congratulations! That’s wonderful!!!” Zoya Akhtar dropped a bunch of appreciative emojis in the comments section.

Richa has always expressed her views honestly. After the Democratic win in the US election, she wrote about the Vice President-elect Kamala Harris: “At about this time in 2016, the world seemed to change in one day. We were shooting the first season of Inside Edge, it was a night shoot... and demonetisation was announced! All night, people wondered of what would unfold over the next few months, worried about needing the new notes while trying to figure out how to deposit their hard earned money (in the form of old notes) in to the bank.”

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“I went to bed at about 8am on the 9th November keeping a watch on the outcome of the U.S election, wondering why it was so close. I woke up at about 3pm to learn that the former host of The Apprentice had been elected to arguably the most powerful office in the world. Something broke me. It didn’t have much to do with politics... it was a strange and saddening realisation that several in a country where women outnumbered men, which was the “Greatest Nation”, which exported Hollywood to the rest of the world, still preferred a man (who boasted about grabbing p***es) over a woman. I remember calling a two friends crying, one being @krnx and the other @alifazal9 who was shooting in London at the time for V and A. No one could understand why this felt so personal, it made no sense to me either. But perhaps sometimes, really terrible things happen to show us the way. Things do get bad, worse, worst before they get better, you know what I mean ? Yes you do. Don’t make me spell it out.”

“Now a Black+ Tamil woman is going to be in the White House! Even the cynic+ anarchist in me will celebrate. Akka’s got a foot in the door. Congratulations and thank you !”

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