A poster girl for regional and art-house cinema, she is equally at ease doing Hindi, Marathi, Telugu and Bengali films — and is sitting pretty with plum projects in her kitty. Actor Radhika Apte — who is passionate about acting but hates the trappings of fame — talks to Huzan Tata about the creative world that forms her universe
We have had an early start to our day and, braving the torrential downpour, are headed out on a four-hour-long drive to our appointed location, The Machan in Lonavala. I quickly whip out my iPod and set my romantic songs playlist on shuffle mode — its melodious tunes provide an apt background score for the rain-drenched journey. Call it serendipity or coincidence but the first song the iPod gently belts out is Saibo, the gentle number from Shor in the City (2011), a movie that featured Radhika Apte — our cover girl for the month.
Apte may not have hogged the limelight in her early appearances on celluloid, but a few years later she has grabbed a spot on several film-makers’ wish lists, having done notable work in Hindi cinema with Badlapur (2015), the Anurag Basu-directed telefilm Chokher Bali (2015) (as Binodini, a role also portrayed by Aishwarya Rai in the 2003 Rituparno Ghosh film), and the viral short film Ahalya (2015) by Sujoy Ghosh. Her turns on stage in Uney Purey Shahar Ek (2013) and Garbo (2009), forays in Telugu and Tamil cinema with Lion (2015) and Dhoni (2012), and her National Award-winning Bengali movie Antaheen (2009) did not go unnoticed. And what catapulted her further centre stage was the news of her bagging a role in Ashutosh Gowariker’s next as well as Padman, Twinkle Khanna’s debut film as producer, with a cast that includes Akshay Kumar and Sonam Kapoor.
Reaching our destination, we are soon comfortably seated in her cabin at the luxurious tree-house resort. Dressed casually in her trackpants and yellow jacket, and patiently getting her hair and make-up done, Apte can pass for the girl next door, seemingly unaffected by the fame that has come her way.
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