Refusing to be labelled and rooting for gutsy roles, actor Radhika Apte tells us about choosing to be an actor and not a star, dancing for herself, and having fun alongside managing her busy career.

Here’s a tete-a-tete with the Emmy-nominated actor who has given stellar performances in Badlapur, Andhadhun, Hunterrr, Manjhi – The Mountain Man, Sacred Games, Lust Stories and many more. Catching up with Radhika Apte, as she looks resplendent for the First Look cover, was a dream come true as the actor breezed through the shoot and the interview with her signature grace and ease. Over to Radhika, known to evoke emotions in her audience.
(Edited excerpts)

FL: How did you spend your time during the COVID-19 induced break? Did you pick up any new skill or invest time in cultivating a passion, or simply spend some quality time?

RA: COVID-19 was a big learning time for me in many ways. From seeing how the world reacted to the crisis, to understanding loss because we lost a lot of people, I gained so many perspectives on everything. I think I’ve just been prioritising things differently since then; I prioritise my peace of mind, family, friends, downtime, all of these things a lot more now. I started learning a language. I have been writing a lot, and learning boxing. I also indulged my love for cooking and baking, so that’s been great. I spent a lot of time with my partner, Benedict, which I haven’t been able to do in the 10 years of our relationship, so we did that.

FL: 2022 looks like another great year for you with your upcoming releases, Monica, O My Darling, Mrs Undercover, Forensic and Vikram Vedha. Could you tell us about the core essence of your characters, are we going to see some new edge and nuance?

RA: It just means the four of them couldn’t be more different from one another. In Monica, O My Darling, I play a nasty cop. In Mrs Undercover, I’m a really sweet, innocent undercover woman. In Forensic, I’m a police officer but a very sincere, good police officer, and in Vikram Vedha, I’m a lawyer who is caught in a different moral dilemma. So, each role is quite different from the other. And, I’m very excited for all of them to be released.

FL: You have starred in arguably one of India’s pioneering digital shows (Sacred Games). As OTT is expanding in India it is now offering a mixed bag, and yet amid a barrage of content, only a few shows have captured the audiences’ imagination. What do you think would make for content that would outlast rather than only sensationalise and move beyond the sass and cool?

RA: Well, I think what is happening with OTT is that so much is being made, which is also great to generate employment. A lot of good actors, technicians, and writers are getting opportunities, which is all very great. Regarding the quality when it comes to watching something, if you don’t like it, just switch it off. So, it’s not about booking screens anymore. OTT is turning into normal digital TV, and so everybody wants to make things faster by churning content, which can just bring attention, sensationalise things, rather than really going deeper into the content. I think that’s very obvious from all the stuff that I’ve been watching. But I do hope that it sort of settles soon because when OTT first came into the picture, it was unique and great because it was

“I’m just grateful that I was nominated. And I didn’t know the story or the character till I went on set, and that’s how Anurag (Kashyap) works but I found it absolutely thrilling and I loved working with him, and the bizarre character and the crazy story. I think it’s a female Anurag!”

RADHIKA APTE (ON LUST STORIES)

giving us path-breaking content, and I do hope that remains a part of it. Otherwise, it’s just replaced TV.

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FL: Radhika, apart from Hindi, you have worked in Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, you first captured attention in a Bengali film, and later featured in Sujoy Ghosh’s short, Ahalya. Has working in multilingual cinema enriched you as an actor?

RA: Yes, it has definitely enriched me in the sense that even though you live in India, sometimes you speak only one language. As Indians, we have such a huge exposure to languages and cultures, but having said that, we don’t really explore it, because we don’t travel as much. But being a part of the film industry, you have to learn the language to understand the language, you have to understand the nuances. You meet a lot of people who bring along their own culture, cinema, food habits, songs, and so on. Being able to understand that and getting exposed to that has really helped me.

FL: From Badlapur to Hunterrr and Andhadhun, you have essayed characters outside the contours of the Hindi film heroine, a space which is also now growing and evolving. What attracts you to the roles that you choose and how does Radhika Apte keep reinventing herself?

RA: I mean, it has to be something in whatever you do whether as an actor or in whatever job you do, unless it takes your personal life forward or ahead, wouldn’t you remain stagnant? Your personal life should enrich your work and your work should enrich your personal life. So, you need to be inspired. You need to grow as a human being. I think that if a role challenges me on that front, if I feel it is really interesting, and if I can learn something from it, then I like to explore that. So, that’s it. That’s how I normally try to choose roles. And, I don’t like categories. I don’t like any particular image, never liked it earlier, now even less. A hero would play only the same kind of hero and won’t do this and won’t do that on screen. And that’s not even an actor, that’s just a star. So, I don’t like being labelled. And, to say, I’m a performance-backed actor is also a label, right? I don’t want to say but it’s such a sad thing that for an actor, a performance-backed role is a label because otherwise most of the roles are just about being stars. Nevertheless, if you talk about challenging roles, let’s just take the four films of this year that you just mentioned. For me, the most challenging one was actually Monica, O My Darling so much so that I was not sure Vasan (Bala) should cast me at all because l’ve never done anything like that and it’s so opposite to who I am. I just thought that I’ll do a really bad job but he had faith in me and I think it’s been a really challenging part for me, so let’s see.

FL: Recently, Gangubai Kathiawada made heartening box office collections while also earning critical acclaim. How do you feel about a female-led film bringing audiences back to the theatre, especially since it has been traditionally held against women that they don’t bring the money?

RA: I’m yet to watch it; I’ve just returned to India but I’m excited that Alia (Bhatt), Deepika (Padukone), Priyanka (Chopra), all these people are finally doing it. And I hope that we have more women doing it. You know, this is incredible; it’s genuinely, genuinely great.

“I’m yet to watch it; I’ve just returned to India but I’m excited that Alia (Bhatt), Deepika (Padukone), Priyanka (Chopra), all these people are finally doing it. And I hope that we have more women doing it. You know, this is incredible; it’s genuinely, genuinely great.”

RADHIKA APTE – (ON FEMALE-LED FILMS)

FL: You essayed a powerful role in Anurag Kashyap’s first YouTube short – That Day After Everyday. What made you connect with the character and the core message of the film?

RA: You know, let’s see user research. I think as Indian women we get if eveteased a lot. I think as Indian women we get eveteased a lot. I’m actually not aware of the correct terminology. But we have been so used to the harassment – no matter where we live, what we do, that it was really easy to connect with that.

FL: What do you have to say about your International Emmy Nominations for Lust Stories? What appealed to you in the story and the character?

RA: I’m just grateful that I was nominated. And I didn’t know the story or the character till I went on set, and that’s how Anurag (Kashyap) works but I absolutely found it thrilling and I loved working with him and the bizarre character and the crazy story. I think it’s a female Anurag!

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FL: On the personal front, how do you take time off and what keeps you going?

RA: I do take a lot of time off these days. I make sure that I take a weekly off; I literally take one day off a week. Because otherwise I used to work without a break for months. Finally, after COVID I just can’t do that and I love that I’m more productive and I also take breaks. I just want to have fun. I want to enjoy my life as well as work, so I do that.

FL: Who is your favourite director and co-star(s) in the Hindi film industry? Any director whom you would like to work with?

RA: I have lots of favourite directors. Recently, I saw Badhaai Do; Harsh (Harshvardhan Kulkarni) is one of my favourite directors. Anurag is there, obviously, and I also enjoyed working with Leena (Yadav) a lot. Am sure, I’m forgetting half the names. Pushkar-Gayathri – I’m really enjoying working with them, and the same goes for Anushree (Mehta). Then there’s Vasan (Bala), whom l’ve really enjoyed working with.

FL: What are your fashion fixes? What are some of your favourite brands and designers – both Indian and international?

RA: I love to buy Gucci; they give me clothes and I love it! My fashion fix is that I mostly just wear my skirt, jeans or track pants. I’m not really somebody who follows fashion very closely. Luckily, I have great stylists.

FL: You love to dance, we have heard. What dance form(s) do you dazzle in?

RA: I just learned contemporary dance for myself; I never really perform. I’m not somebody who will get up and dance at a party unless I’m genuinely drunk. I don’t know why. But one would think that if you like dancing so much you would just dance whenever you want, or all the time, but it’s not the case with me. I like to dance for myself. I really loved learning the ‘double dance’.

“In Monica, O My Darling, I play a nasty cop. In Mrs Undercover, I’m a really sweet, innocent undercover woman. In Forensic, I’m a police
officer but a very sincere, good police officer, and in Vikram Vedha,
I’m a lawyer who is caught in a different moral dilemma. So, each role is quite different from the other.”

– RADHIKA APTE – (ON UPCOMING PROJECTS)