Steel Magnolia
Harper's Bazaar India|January - February 2019

She is a performer in the classical sense of the word. A dancer and an actor of screen and stage, Radhika Apte is committed to her craft and rewriting the rules of what it means to be a Bollywood star.

Supriya Nair
Steel Magnolia

THERE’S SOMETHING UNBENDING ABOUT RADHIKA APTE. It’s in the unforgettable opening shot of Lust Stories, last year’s big Netflix conversation piece: On a late night, floodlit by Mumbai’s fuzzy streetlamps, she emerges from a dinky black and yellow taxi, leaning out of the window. Her back is straight, shoulders thrown back. It isn’t a post of girlish excitement. She looks like the Winged Victory.

It’s the danseuse in her, you realise in person. She arrives on location at the Harper’s Bazaar shoot in Kolhapuri chappals and an olive-coloured shirt dress. She’s light on her feet but upright; centred, as the historian Jennifer Homans once explained about dancers, as though “a plumb line were dropped from the crown of the head down through the spine”.

Apte has had six releases in fewer than 12 months. Some of them have been huge hits. In 2018, she was a spy (Sacred Games), a corporate high-flier (Baazaar), a college lecturer on the verge of a meltdown (Lust Stories), and a cop in a torture cell (Ghoul), among other things. She generated her own force field of stardom in an Akshay Kumar vehicle (Padman) and an Ayushmann Khurrana hit (Andhadhun) respectively, holding her own opposite two of Hindi cinema’s most bankable male stars.

You don’t see that she’s a student of kathak and a trained contemporary dancer from her movies. She doesn’t do the nritya-nayika, item-bomb stuff on screen, although women have historically derived a great deal of importance from these roles in Hindi cinema. “I actually haven’t danced in four years,” she says, taking a seat for hair and makeup. (Back: Still straight.) “I used to go to classes, but things have been crazy.”

Denne historien er fra January - February 2019-utgaven av Harper's Bazaar India.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra January - February 2019-utgaven av Harper's Bazaar India.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA HARPER'S BAZAAR INDIASe alt
The Magic Of Magnesium
Harper's Bazaar India

The Magic Of Magnesium

This miracle mineral can be your ticket to better health.

time-read
3 mins  |
October - November, 2024
Filler Fatigue
Harper's Bazaar India

Filler Fatigue

With worries about facial distortion and a shift towards the natural, is it time to sav goodbye to these corrective tweaks?

time-read
4 mins  |
October - November, 2024
Mind-Skin Connection
Harper's Bazaar India

Mind-Skin Connection

Is il possible for your skincare to communicate with your brain:

time-read
3 mins  |
October - November, 2024
Tailored for the Game
Harper's Bazaar India

Tailored for the Game

Fashion meets sports as U.S. Polo Assn. names Sawai Padmanabh Singh of ol Jaipur’ s royal family its global ambassador.

time-read
2 mins  |
October - November, 2024
Reimagined Classic
Harper's Bazaar India

Reimagined Classic

Louis Vuitton launches the Neverfull Inside Out bag, transforming the icon into a fully reversible tote.

time-read
2 mins  |
October - November, 2024
Italian Muse
Harper's Bazaar India

Italian Muse

Guecr's new high jew ellery collection isa stroll through the country’s picturesque gardens.

time-read
2 mins  |
October - November, 2024
Co Gs Art Post, Gas Art Pas New CELSIOR Net Lay the show Neking ble e dh PATRON An TH Fotal 24 ANAR Romantics
Harper's Bazaar India

Co Gs Art Post, Gas Art Pas New CELSIOR Net Lay the show Neking ble e dh PATRON An TH Fotal 24 ANAR Romantics

Romcoms might not have prepared me for modern dating, but they offered a timeless sartorial guide to falling in love.

time-read
3 mins  |
October - November, 2024
Making a Case for India's Ingenuity
Harper's Bazaar India

Making a Case for India's Ingenuity

William Dalrymple says The Golden Road is an extraordinary story but also the most challenging book he has written in the last two decades.

time-read
4 mins  |
October - November, 2024
On My Playlist
Harper's Bazaar India

On My Playlist

Playback singer turned indie-pop artiste Dhee talks about music, identity, and empowering a new generation.

time-read
3 mins  |
October - November, 2024
Explicitly Bold
Harper's Bazaar India

Explicitly Bold

The latest lipstick range by Nars is designed to empower wearers with colour and confidence.

time-read
2 mins  |
October - November, 2024