From the digital platform to movies, Radhika Apte has had a busy year, says Saimi Sattar
If you ask Radhika Apte what it was like playing Nida Rahim in the noire Ghoul, the one of the many Netflix series which inspired a flood of memes of her carpet bombing the online platform, she doesn’t remember much of it. That’s not surprising since Apte has been all over our mobiles and also movie screens. Despite that the possibility of not working, which is a distant memory, can make her anxious.
“The fact that I have been working two-three years non-stop makes you forget the times when you have cried because you did not have work. That always happens when you go back to an unpleasant situation. It is like when you are in love, you forget what rejection is like. When it happens again, you remember what it felt like. I worked hard for the last two years but now I am very nervous about what next. And there is a reason as this year I haven’t worked so much as I have been tying loose ends and promoting the work that I have already done. I am signing two projects but also waiting to see what is going to come up,” she says. Wearing a polka-dotted dress, she is curious about everything around her. At one point Apte questions the server about the exquisite quality of porcelain used for serving tea in the five star which is a favourite haunt of her co-star, Saif Ali Khan, in Baazaar where she stars next.
For Apte, excitement and challenge is important while choosing a role. “It should make you feel, oh this is great. I don’t know how to do this but this is great,” she says. For her language, platform and length are not the criteria that makes her choose. Not surprisingly, she can be seen working in a film, series or short films. Next up she will be seen in Baazaar alongside Saif Ali Khan, Chitrangada Singh and newcomer Rohan Mehra. “It is very different from anything that I have done before and also from who I am so I am very excited. It is very mainstream. Nikkhil, Monisha (Advani, the producers) and Gaurav (K Chawla, the director) are the best people to explore this with. I liked the story and the cast. All these dances and songs, even when I watch it, it is hard to place my self there,” she says as she widens her already big eyes in wonder and adds, “It is tough. People underestimate how hard it is. It is out of your comfort zone and anything out of your comfort zone is very difficult.”
She hopes that the kind of roles that she wants to do keep on coming to her. “It is up to people to offer me different kinds of things to do. I am not rushing into things. I am also waiting for something nice to come that is really inspiring. You know when you lose sleep because you can’t wait to start a project,” she says as words tumble out quickly, clearly unable to keep pace with all the directions that her agile mind is running in. Having worked so hard for the last two-three years, she is on a bit of a break. “Right now I am not rushing into things. I am taking three-four weeks to see various family members and friends that I haven’t seen for two years.”
The amount of work that she did in the past two years was the stuff the memes are made of — and she invited quite a few. She played Nida Rahim in Ghoul, Kalindi in Lust Stories, Anjali Mathur in Sacred Games, Sophie in Andhadhun and next up she will be seen as Sonia in Baazaar. And she is happy with the way that Netflix, the digital platform, responded to the memes when it released a two-minute spoof video featuring the actress and filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane. The clip, seemingly a behind-the-scenes video of an upcoming show titled Omnipresent, shows Apte playing every role. The video ends with Netflix rechristening itself ‘Radflix’. Netflix shared the video on Twitter with the caption, “Whatever the role, Radhika apt hai.” The digital platform also changed its Instagram bio to “Just another @radhikaofficial fan account”.
Apte said that she really enjoyed the way that the platform handled the entire thing. “It was very smart and that proves that quality marketing is better than quantity marketing. If you just get the right idea and do that, you don’t need to do 20 interviews or ridiculous 80 interviews across the country. This will generate more publicity,” she says with a laugh.
Apte is happy that she is in a space and time where she is being offered many different types of roles. “It is a good time to be a part of the industry. I just don’t want to realise after 10 years that this is a better time and I want it to happen right now and I want to make it happen. I want to change this game where there are equal amount of women characters as powerful as men’s. I don’t want to feel that why are all these parts written for men only,” she says, and again the feeling of a million thoughts clamouring to come out is evident.
But does she feel that the current phase where content is really the king is kicked off by the coming up of the digital platforms? “You can make brilliant content in films. In digital there is no censorship plus there is a lot of time as a series can be eight or six hours long. Mahabharata is probably more interesting to show in a longer series than to show in two hours. Short films on the other hand have their own challenges. In today’s world people want to have entertainment in their local journeys, in their local trains or rickshaw and that’s why digital content becomes viral because smart phones have come,” she says highlighting the strength and weakness of each.
She also feels that the sudden explosion in digital content, “is a phase. Now it’s become popular. But when 10 shows come up, let’s see if they are of the same quality. Probably eventually it would match with the films. If it doesn’t it’s great and amazing. But what I am saying is that at the end of the day it is up to the producers and directors to maintain quality,” she says as she signs off.
Photo: Pankaj Kumar