Aditi in Wonderland

Six years in the industry and still awaiting her breakthrough role, things are about to massively change for the beauteous Aditi Rao Hydari as she gears up to star in Mani Ratnam’s Tamil language romantic drama Kaatru Veliyidai and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati. In a candid interview with Farhad J Dadyburjor, the actress talks about the predatory nature of the fi lm industry, how she wishes she’d had a more loving relationship with her father and the most upsetting part of the rumoured link-up with Farhan Akhtar.

It is her pristine physicality, the beautiful fragility that Aditi Rao Hydari exudes that makes one assume she’s demure; a wallflower of sorts. But the truth is just the opposite. She’s self-admittedly “quite mad” and once she gets talking, can happily ramble on. It is her mixture of dogged determination and devilmay-care attitude that has seen her push on in an industry where she’s been six years but is still considered a ‘newcomer’—where although she’s had a slew of films with some big stars and reputed directors, she’s somehow never broken through. “I don’t think I’ve had my breakthrough moment,” Aditi admits, “as everyone around me keeps saying, she’s still not gotten her due. It’s not that I’ve not gotten good work. Honestly, whatever has come my way I have picked it up and never said no to something and later regretted it. But I don’t have somebody behind me who wants to make films for me. It doesn’t happen for girls like me—I just have to rely on my talent and merit. When you’re a complete nobody from the outside, it does take that much longer.”