Ali Fazal, Richa Chadha rope in Jiu-Jitsu world champions to empower young girls for self defence

MUMBAI: Actor couple Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal are strengthening female empowerment through self-defence.

The couple recently organised a Jiu Jitsu workshop conducted by world champion in Jiu Jitsu, Andressa Citra and Lucas Valente, in association with an NGO.

Talking about the same, Richa said, “Self-defence isn’t just about fighting back; it’s about building confidence, resilience, and awareness. And when we learnt that Andressa would be interested, we put together this unique one day workshop”.

For the workshop, Richa an Ali joined forces with NGO Mukkamaar.

“We’re proud to be partnering with MukkaMaar Girls, an organisation that has been empowering young girls through self-defence for years”, the actress added.

MukkaMaar Girls, started by actor Ishita Sharma, is a respected NGO that has been teaching girls to assert their agency through martial arts training and athletics.

Ali Fazal said, "I have been training in Jiu Jitsu, and having the Mukkamaar children meet with Andressa, meant that they’d have such a solid role model, in terms of what they can become. Especially for the young girls to meet a world champ and learn from her one on one, even if it was for a few hours, is so inspiring and fantastic for them”.

Ishita Sharma, founder and CEO of MukkaMaar said, "Andressa is absolutely inspiring and you can tell that she is a world champion in the way she moves, speaks, and coaches. Our fellows learnt some killer moves and we can’t wait to work with her again. Thanks to Richa and Ali for doing this and always having MukkaMaar’s back”.

Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha have long been advocates for gender equality and social justice. They recently celebrated the birth of their daughter by giving the media the sweets and also by planting trees in their individual names in drought affected areas.