IN A MOOD TO CELEBRATE

Riding on the high of winning an international award for her directorial debut film, and ready to move into her new house in London, actor Radhika Apte, shares her style quotient, love of acting, and why she is big on small celebrations.

- CHUMKI BHARADWAJ

Whether she’s playing Sophie, the girl next door who falls in love with a pianist pretending to be blind in 2018’s smash hit, Bollywood thriller, Andhadhun, or Kalindi the obsessive married college professor who has an affair with her student, that won her an Emmy nomination for Netflix film, Lust Stories. Or even the enigmatic, part femme fatale, part reckless, Samaira, in British-American action thriller, The Wedding Guest, Radhika Apte simply can’t be pigeon-holed. Aptly, she dismisses the title, ‘Queen of OTT’. “I’m not a great fan of labels, but I welcome them when they come because I don’t make a big deal out of them,” she says.

Adding that she has done more feature films than digital,“but when the digital platform was still new I did quite a few projects back to back. I wasn’t bothered about the platform; I did it because I liked the work that was coming my way. “Digital platforms have given a lot of job opportunities to really good writers and actors, who are essaying lead roles even, and its fabulous. Also, it’s equal opportunity and less driven by the star system that we have.” Apte’s wide repertoire of work across varied genres, platforms and languages is testament to her feisty spirit, non-conformist choices and her untiring love for challenges and excitement. She has even experimented with directing and her first directorial debut of the short film