For actor Radhika Madan, being an outsider in the film industry has not been a disadvantage. While most kids with a film background start off with a conventional potboiler for mass appeal, actors without a godfather usually shine in offbeat films. Madan, too, started off with Pataakha (2018).

“People who are not from the film industry don’t have anything to lose. They are fearless. They feel, ‘I am going to give it my all anyway’, and if it doesn’t work out, nobody will say anything. And when nobody is saying anything, the pressure is off. When you enter in fearlessly, with all your heart and passion, it somewhere pays off,” says the 26-year-old, who was recently seen in Shiddat.

She says she’s understood how things work in B-Town. “Now, I am accustomed to everything. Earlier, it used to shock me. But now that I’ve been here for seven years, I don’t think anything surprises me now,” says the actor.

So, does she feel at home in the industry now? Madan says “yes”, and thanks people for believing in her: “Especially Dinu (Dinesh Vijan, producer). When he gave me Angrezi Medium, I’d just done Pataakha, gained 12 kg, played a village girl with a tan... He saw something in me. I’m grateful to all my producers and directors. I didn’t have anything to give them, apart from my talent and passion.”