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

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In a unique way to spread empowerment, Richa Chadha and husband Ali Fazal reached out to NGO Mukkamaar Girls, which teaches girls self-defense, and organized a Jiu-Jitsu workshop conducted by world champions in Jiu-Jitsu—Andressa Cintra and Lucas Valente.

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

Richa Chadha says, “Self-defense 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. We are proud to be partnering with Mukkamaar Girls, an organization that has been empowering young girls through self-defense for years.”

Ali Fazal added, “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 Girls 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 for 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 sweets and also by planting trees in their individual names in drought- affected areas, via the Nabhangan Foundation.