Chhaya Kadam grew up in the Mumbai suburb of Kalina, played kabaddi at Sathaye College in Vile Parle, majored in textile design, and was feted at Cannes. After a decade in the film industry, the girl next door is in the spotlight. And 2024 is proving to be her year.
Three of the movies Kadam acted in—which were released in the last six months—have been making waves. Laapataa Ladies clocked 13.8 million views on Netflix since its 1 March debut. Madgaon Express has been declared a box office success and critics’s favourite. And All We Imagine as Light, directed by Payal Kapadia, has won her the Grand Prix Award at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
“Cannes only meant Aishwarya Rai for me. When I told my friends I would be attending it, they wanted to know what I would be wearing, and not which film I was going for,” Kadam told ThePrint. Her friends wanted her to wear a “humongous gown” with a long trail.
But the success of the movie (it won the second most prestigious award) is upending the perception that Cannes is more about the red carpet than films.
Kadam’s niche in Bollywood
“What this year’s win has done is make even common people tune into what’s happening abroad,” said Kadam, whose celebratory red carpet dance with the All We Imagine As Light team was one of the highlights of the festival.
Kadam may have had a ‘late’ start in the entertainment industry, but she has worked with top directors like Nagraj Manjule, Ravi Jadhav, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and now Kiran Rao and Payal Kapadia.
“I have never looked at how long my role should be, or how much money I can make off it. I have done roles which have lasted exactly one scene, because it was something new,” said Kadam, who made her debut in Bollywood with a single scene with Ajay Devgn in Singham Returns (2013).
Today, she has firmly established her niche by taking on roles of the ‘working woman’. These include the small-town tea stall owner Manju Mai in Laapataa Ladies, the part-time art model Akka in Nude (2018), and the hospital cook Parvaty in All We Imagine as Light.
Her characters are street-smart, buoyant women—a mirror to Kadam herself. She’s known for her strong work ethic and unflagging energy on set.
“I have seen many actors who cannot wait for the shoot to be over and get home. For Chhaya, every day is exciting, be it at a Bhansali shoot or a regional one. And all of us also have to match her energy,” actor and screenwriter Shashank Shende told ThePrint.
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Playing the working woman
Kadam’s working woman does not conform to the popular stereotype. She inverts the aspirational trope of the young office woman clocking hours at the desk in her armour of suits and western outfits and knock-off Prada bag.
In Madgaon Express—actor Kunal Khemu’s directorial debut produced by Farhan Akhtar—Kadam is the immaculately dressed female gangster Kanchan Kombdi. She drapes her saris in the traditional Maharashtrian style with a nath (nose ring), gold ambada hairpin, and a slightly off-centre crescent moon bindi. The gun-toting, Ray-Ban-wearing Kombdi is equal parts intimidating and hilarious. She loves her paan and operates her all-women gang with professional expertise.
“Kunal was very specific about the way I should dress and walk and what my body language should be like. It was extremely fun to play a lady don who is dressed so well,” said Kadam.
As Kombdi, her Konkani accent and dialogue delivery are on point, especially when she’s terrorising her husband (who left her for a Russian woman) while successfully managing her ‘business’.
On-screen, Kadam demands the viewer’s attention, even if it’s for just a few scenes. In the Marathi-Malvani language film Redu (2018), she plays the wife of the protagonist, daily wage worker Tatu (Shashank Shende).
“It was a tiny role and I even asked Chhaya why she was doing it. But such is her talent that she infused life in those few scenes. When you watch the film, you cannot forget her,” said Shende. It was Kadam who helped Shende with the Malvani dialect.
Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies has made her a household name across India. Fans can’t get enough of her character Manju Mai. She is a tough, no-nonsense woman who hides her vulnerability from everyone.
“My husband and son would get drunk and beat me up. And then they would say, ‘A man who loves you has the right to hit you.’ One day, I exercised my right as well.” This is one of Mai’s more popular lines.
Overnight, the character became an unequivocal role model for women.
“Being happy on your own is the toughest thing, Phool. But yes, once you master it, no one can bother you,” Mai says, pushing for economic independence and living one’s life on their own terms.
This resonates in Kadam’s life as well. She supports herself and has a ‘never say no’ attitude. And just like the underlying philosophy of Laapataa Ladies, she values friendships—female friends in particular, within and outside Bollywood and the Marathi film industry.
Shende respects and admires her ability to take rejection in her stride and bounce back stronger than ever. The two met during the reading of the film Khwada (2014). Kadam had travelled to Pune from Mumbai for it but didn’t get the part.
“Despite calling back to enquire multiple times, no one told Chhaya that she did not get the part. But she has never let any kind of setback, personal or professional, hold her back,” said Shende.
“She is a phoenix.”
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No role is small: Nani and Akka
By Bollywood standards, Kadam is a late entry into the entertainment industry. She was 28 when she stood in front of the camera for the first time for Baimanus (2010), which was never released.
Being the daughter of a mill worker, Kadam got a degree in textile design and became a state-level kabaddi player. However, acting always beckoned her. Even though her parents were supportive, one of her brothers was against her working in the film industry. He argued that it was not respectable. She didn’t pay him much attention.
“Now he watches and re-watches my videos from Cannes,” she said, smiling.
But on her way to Bollywood, Kadam had to work hard to establish herself in the Marathi film industry. While Baimanus did not take off, she made her name with movies like Mi Sindhutai Sapkal (2010), Baboo Band Baaja (2011), and Kuni Ghar Deta Ka Ghar (2013).
Kadam got her break in Nagraj Manjule’s National Award-winning Marathi film Fandry (2013), which is about a Dalit boy who falls in love with an upper-caste girl. She played Nani, the grandmother of the film’s protagonist Jabya (Somnath Awghade).
“She is curious and enthusiastic, and her engagement with co-actors, directors or even newcomers goes beyond just working together in a film,” actor and poet Kishor Kadam told ThePrint. He had recommended her for the role of Nani after a National Award-winning actor passed up the opportunity. “She showed how no role is small if you are talented.”
Since Fandry, Kadam has collaborated frequently with Manjule from the critically acclaimed Sairat (2016) to Jhund (2022).
Another significant milestone came with Ravi Jadhav’s Nude (2018). The film documents the experiences of a woman and her niece who work as nude models for art students at the Sir JJ School of Art in Mumbai. While preparing for the role, Kadam attended a nude class at the school. The experience left her impressed.
“I met the woman who inspired the role, and it was really impressive, the kind of life she lived, unapologetic and proud, and I knew I had to bring that to the screen with my performance,” she said.
Kadam’s character, Akka, sees this as nothing more than a job.
“You shed your clothes on your own. The students don’t look at you as an object of lust. It’s an important part of their education,” Akka tells her niece Yamuma (Kalyanee Mulay) who has fled an abusive marriage and came to Mumbai with her teenage son.
When Kadam first saw the poster of the film, she assumed that it had already been made and was disappointed. “I always wanted to do different roles, powerful roles. Even with Nude, when I saw the poster online, I was sad, and wondered, why do I not get offered such roles?”
It was almost as if the universe was waiting for Kadam to voice her thoughts. Soon after, she got a call from Jadhav, enquiring if she would want to be a part of his upcoming film.
Nude was removed from the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa, by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, despite a CBFC certification without any cuts. However, it went on to win the Best Film award at the New York Indian Film Festival 2018.
Kadam’s family lives in a village, almost at the border of Maharashtra. Cannes is a word they had never heard before. In fact, there are no theatres in the village, so they have to wait for films to be on TV before they can watch Kadam on screen. But they know that the actor has walked the red carpet abroad, and represented India on a scale that not many actors with no godfathers get to.
Kadam believes that she was lucky to have found people who recommended her to directors, producers, and casting directors. In both, All We Imagine As Light and even Laapataa Ladies, her previous work was her audition tape. Kiran Rao loved Kadam in Fandry, while Kunal Khemu was bowled over by her performance in Kaun Pravin Tambe?.
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What’s next for Chhaya Kadam?
Kadam’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing since Cannes. But Kishor Kadam questioned why the accolades started pouring in only after international recognition. “The Marathi media and industry should be more enthusiastic and appreciative to her henceforth,” he said.
If Kadam is upset with the powerplay, she doesn’t show it.
“I want performers and artists to look at my stint at Cannes and push themselves to dream bigger, and realise that they too can reach important global spaces,” said.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)