You may not have seen all of the Netflix originals featuring Radhika Apte (Lust Stories, Sacred Games, Ghoul) but if you’ve not seen the ‘Radhika Apte is Everywhere’ memes, you’re definitely living under a rock. We’ll give it a rest. As she turned a year older recently, we trace her trajectory and delve into her ‘omnipresence’.
Radhika Apte’s deglam, dusky and striking charm in Ram Gopal Varma’s Rakhta Charitra roused the curiosity of many mainstream viewers. Later, when the doe-eyed actor scored a prominent role in Shor in the City, her vulnerable face with a subdued smoulder and quiet confidence made a mark on the audience.
The daughter of a neurosurgeon in Pune, Apte with no filmy legacy, made her Bollywood debut over a decade ago with Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi, where she played Shahid Kapoor’s sister. #YouRemember. The Marathi film, Gho Mala Asla Hava and the Bengali Antaheen marked her tryst with regional cinema.
It was her performance in Sujoy Ghosh’s short film Ahalya that made people sit up and take notice of her. Her turn in this film, as the seductress and in Anurag Basu’s Chokher Bali as Binodini for Stories By Rabindranath Tagore was instrumental in cementing her credentials as the bold actor who started getting typecast in bawdy roles.
She then went on to be a scene-stealer in smaller but meatier roles in films like Badlapur, while casting a wider net with Telugu, Marathi, Bengali and Tamil films, and starring opposite Rajinikanth in Kabali. From the contemporary, urban characters to the woke village belle weathering the vicissitudes of life, she became the go-to actor to inhabit the skin of defiant actors. Her performance in Parched garnered critical acclaim and pocketed nominations for Best Actor too.
Phobia has been her best performance to date. It turned into a nerve-racking ride thanks to her tangibly manifesting the chaotic inner workings of a troubled mind, in a single setting.
Apte’s back-to-back outings in Indian projects of Netflix (Lust Stories, Sacred Games, Ghoul) had her play characters that wore their feminism on their sleeves, bordering on posturing in many instances. While netizens were quick to point out the ‘Radhika Apte fatigue’, they didn’t really take into account the other common denominator - the Phantom world. The characters that she recently portrayed from Kalindi to the Raw Agent to Nida Hakim demanded a physicality and dialogue delivery that became redundant with the releases, in tandem.
The glimpse of Radhika Apte in the opening of Anurag Kashyap’s short film on eve teasing, That Day After Everyday is the one we’d like to see again - no words, just eyes. It will also be refreshing to see Apte in a Sriram Raghavan universe soon with AndhaDhun.
Here are a couple of characters that we’d like to see Radhika Apte nail and spaces we’d like her to inhabit. Donning the hat of casting directors, we try to de-box Radhika Apte.
Nina Portman in Black Swan
A ballerina who finds herself slipping into madness with her perfectionism. A danse macabre personified. With her professional training in contemporary dance, she could be the right fit.
A ‘Masala’ Flick
Why not reinvent the David Dhawan formula with Radhika Apte? Maybe some Karan Johar drama or madcap Rohit Shetty fun alongside someone like Ranveer Singh? Wouldn’t her fans love to see Apte in a happier space?
April from Revolutionary Road
We’d like to see Radhika Apte playing an emotionally spent Kate Winslet in the tale depicting a disintegration of a relationship. A tragic love story. Sanjay Leela Bhansali, are you listening?
Uma Thurman from Kill Bill
Isn’t seeing Radhika Apte in an out-and-out action role, kicking ass a delicious idea? Or Furiosa?
Ada McGrath from The Piano
A mute piano player who hasn’t spoken for decades. With Radhika Apte’s articulate eyes, a role like this could give her ample scope to unearth a range of facial expressions.
Villanelle from Killing Eve
Radhika Apte in a fierce game of cat and mouse that aces the Bechdel test and where she plays the mercurial, cocky and playful assassin would be a dream portrayal of sorts.
We wish Radhika Apte a road less travelled (by her).
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