The actress on playing a real-life Brit secret agent in Emmy Award-winning director Lydia Dean Pilcher’s espionage drama
Akash Bhatnagar (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 27, 2019)

After making her Hollywood debut with The Wedding Guest last year, Radhika Apte is now gearing up for Liberte: A Call To Spy which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival last month. The espionage drama, directed by Emmy award-winner Lydia Dean Pilcher, has the actress playing Noor Inayat Khan. Describing her character as “a pacifist fighting in the war”, Radhika informs that she was a Brit born in Russia to an American mother and an Indian Muslim father who was into Sufism, and raised in France.

During World War II, Noor who was part of Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s secret organisation was sent to France as a spy and operated under the name of Madeleine. She was caught but did not reveal secrets, and died, her last word being, “Liberte.”

Radhika met Lydia at the Tribeca Film festival in 2015. The latter was on the jury and she’d won the best actress award for Clean Shaven, part of the anthological film Madly. “Lydia told me that she was casting for this film,” she recalls, admitting a lot has been written on Noor, including stories by her children and material from secret services. “With Lydia’s help, I was able to find a balance between all the information and finding the character,” she says.

The actress points out that when we talk about wars, we only speak about the men. “But there were so many women who fought just as valiantly. Lydia feels very strongly for them and wants to tell their untold stories,” she adds, agreeing that while we’ve seen many films on the World Wars, they always felt distant despite being directly related to India’s Independence struggle in many ways. “I never thought I’d get an opportunity to portray someone involved with a World War. Being on the set of Liberte, wearing those costumes, was an experience.”

Prod her on differences between our industry and the West and she quips, “People there are more professional in terms of punctuality, be it coming for a shoot or paying your dues.”

Radhika hints to an announcement for another international film but is waiting to sign it first. Meanwhile, she’s been embroiled in a controversy over a leaked scene with Dev Patel from The Wedding Guest. She clears the air, saying, “I never gave any interview in this matter” and adds with a laugh, “How many times is the audience going to get surprised by my nudity?”
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Dhaval Roy (DNA; July 27, 2019)

It’s cloak and dagger time for Radhika Apte as she is all set to be seen in Liberte: A Call to Spy. Based on true incidents from World War II, the Hollywood project has the AndhaDhun star essaying the role of a British spy, Noor Inayat Khan aka Nora Baker, who was the first female wireless operator to parachute into Nazi-occupied France to help the French Resistance.

Needless to say, to portray her part, Radhika had to do big-time research and rehearsals. The actress shares, “I believe that preparing for a character includes almost all aspects of acquiring knowledge — information about the subject, reading up extensively about the story in question and even related stories that influence my character, balancing out the visceral side of her, so on and so forth.” Hence, she pored over a number of classic novels and watched spy flicks to get into the skin and psyche of the character. “A lot of reading material was passed onto me by writers and producers on-board,” she adds.

As for the difference between the process of filmmaking in the two industries, she says it’s an extremely subjective process. “I think every director and production house has their own way of working.” However, she did notice two things that set Indian and international filmmaking apart. “People are very punctual there. And they pay you on time. You don’t have to beg them for money.”

A source also tells us that apart from Philadelphia, where the production designers recreated England, the team also filmed in Budapest, where Radhika has visited as a tourist in the past. “She had a great time while working there as well,” the insider said.

Radhika Apte on issues like nepotism, pay parity and airport looks
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 15, 2019)

Last year, you acted in three films—Pad Man, AndhaDhun, Baazaar and three digital shows. Life sure is hectic.
(Laughs) It is, but now I’m on a script-reading break. The hunt is on for interesting content.

Was it a conscious move to associate yourself with indie cinema and off-beat content?
It wasn’t a plan if that’s what you are saying. The reason to do a film is the script, the director and character and what I am looking for at that point of time. It needs to challenge me.

After Badlapur and AndhaDhun, any plans to collaborate with Sriram Raghavan again?
People don’t discuss work without a bound script. He has been writing something for a while now, but I have no idea what his next film is.

Your recently released Hollywood film, The Wedding Guest, met with mixed reactions…
(Cuts in) Every film meets with mixed reactions—some love it, some hate it and some are neutral. It’s their opinion, one can only take constructive criticism in a positive way. (Director) Michael Winterbottom’s films are always been different and so evoke mixed reactions. That’s what prompted me to work with him.

How different is the work culture abroad?
People there are always on time and they pay on time. These are the two significant differences.

Next up, a Hollywood spy thriller set against World War II with you playing Noor Inayat Khan, the first female wireless operator to be flown into occupied France. When can we hope to see it in India?
It’s not a very big film and I’ve no idea if the producers plan to release it in India.

Back home too, many women-centric films are being made.
Yes, things have changed, but it needs to be on a much bigger scale. Even today, there is a yawning gap between films with male and female protagonists.

What’s your opinion on pay parity?
If Salman Khan brings in Rs 200 crore and I bring in not even a crore, it’s obvious that he’ll be paid more since he is adding value to the box-office. I don’t dispute that but I have an issue with actors who don’t contribute to ticket sales. Hey, even the mother of a lead character is paid lesser than the father. That needs to change.

And as an outsider, how do you react to nepotism?
I don’t like the word outsider. If I’m a director and my son wants to be an actor, why shouldn’t I launch him? The industry today is a blend of both worlds. On one hand there’s Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Kangana Ranaut who were not born into a film family but have made it big and then there are the star kids. I like that abroad you can go to drama school and then for auditions like everyone else for a role. It’s a fair playing ground there. With casting directors in Bollywood, things are changing here too.

What about airport looks, how much of a pressure is it to look good?
I don’t consider that a part of my job. I don’t need to wear fancy clothes to the airport, I’m not at work there.

That’s a honest reply…
(Laughs) I can’t keep my mouth shut when something warrants an honest opinion. There are times when I know I should have kept mum, but I just can’t. 

Radhika Apte on the struggles she faced en route to stardom and why she doesn’t mind being rejected for multiple international projects
Kunal Guha (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 29, 2018)

When we meet Radhika Apte at her boho-chic apartment in Andheri, she insists on sitting on the floor next to a low table. No, she hasn’t adopted Japanese living. “I’ve got a terrible back from scuba-diving,” she smiles. With six releases — Pad Man, Andhadhun, Bazaar, Lust Stories, Ghoul and Sacred Games — on the big and handheld screens in 2018, a couple of international projects—The Wedding Guest and an untitled World War II spy thriller —in the kitty and a presence in six film industries (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali and Marathi), she couldn’t have asked for more. While the 33-year-old actress has found her feet over time, only a few years ago, she says, “things were quite different”. “The kind of roles I am being offered right now, I would have never rejected four years ago,” she admits. But rejecting films is something she can afford to do at present because “aspirations change over time”.

So, today, Radhika passes on projects that “repeat a character” she has essayed before and sometimes, because “it just makes no sense”. “Somebody messaged me two days ago and said he has written a film for me and the subject is feminism, how do you respond to that?” she asks, baffled. Now, she weighs projects based on “how much they excite or inspire”. “There’s no right or wrong but what you do has a consequence and you have to be prepared to face it. You think you know how things will work out, but you actually don’t,” she points out.

Her instinctive choices did pay off in Andhadhun, pegged as the sleeper hit of the year, which she considered “even though it wasn’t a meaty role or one that was relevant to the plot”. “I just love working with Sriram (Raghavan) and he gives me that inspiration,” she reasons. Radhika also credits Sriram’s Badlapur for accelerating her career: “It got me noticed by the industry which is the most important thing and it takes a long time for most.” Having dabbled in diverse onscreen avatars and being paired as a strong female lead opposite the biggest stars across industries, such as Rajinikanth (Kabaali) and Akhshay Kumar (Pad Man), she credits her decision to go against the grain for her success. “People say ‘don’t get married, ‘don’t do regional cinema’, ‘don’t do short films or digital’ but I did it all,” she says, adding that filmmakers now weigh an actor’s commercial viability before considering them.

The Fergusson College graduate who grew up in Pune on a heavy dose of Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla, says she wanted to act even as a child. But following a few theatre gigs when she landed up in Mumbai, she “couldn’t cope with the pressure and not knowing where to go for work, didn’t help”. “I did a play called Bombay Black (2008) for Anahita Uberoi who paid me Rs 3000 per show which was an insane amount then. I knew even if I did a couple of shows in a month, it would be good money,” says Radhika who shared an apartment with two others in Andheri’s Shastri Nagar at the time. Her screen debut Vaah Life Ho Toh Aisi barely created a stir. And it was Raj Nidimoru’s Shor In The City that gave Bollywood biggies a taste of Radhika’s abilities. “You will laugh if I tell you how much they paid me,” reminisces the actress who wasn’t even allowed to read the script before she was cast.

This was also her first brush with the PR machinery surrounding a release. “They encouraged news pieces that suggested that Tusshar (Kapoor) and I were dating. I was studying in London so I laughed it off,” says Radhika, who had taken a student loan and a break from acting to study contemporary dance from Trinity Laban. Incidentally, when she was in London, Rakht Charitra was dubbed in Tamil and Telugu and offers for South Indian films began trickling in. This was lucky because “the student loan had to be paid”. She also remembers being offered “something very massive” at the time. “They (the producers) had liked my work in Antaheen and told me the script was written for me,” she flashbacks, but when she returned from a backpacking trip to actually sign the agreement, the offer was withdrawn. “They said I had put on a lot of weight and I was kicked out. I told them that I had two months before the shoot to lose the weight but they were panicking and didn’t want to wait.”

Given the nature of the industry, she knows too well that being dropped from a project often has little to do with ability. “I still get rejected often but you get used to it, in a good way. Your anger fades and you realise that nothing is personal.”

Radhika moved to Mumbai in 2014, the decision prompted by then boyfriend and now husband, musician Benedict Taylor, because “he had some friends in the city”. In fact, films like Rakht Charitra and Shor In The City were shot during fly-by visits to Mumbai. “I remember Atul Kulkarni told me that if I had to make it, I had to make Bombay my home and not return to Pune every weekend,” she smiles. But moving to Mumbai didn’t instantly translate in offers and “there was no work in the first year”. Even the projects that excited her, didn’t materialise. “Hunterrr got cancelled a day before the shoot because the producers ran away. I remember going with Gulshan (Devaiah) to cheer up Harsh (director Harshavardhan Kulkarni).” The film eventually got backing when “some friends came together to pool in funds”. An odd offer that she let go then was for a film starring Kunal Kapoor. “I did Kaun Kitne Paani Mein with Kunal. Before it released, someone called me to brief me on another film that he was attached to. Half way through the brief, I learnt that I was being considered for the part of Kunal’s onscreen mother. I didn’t know what to say, I told them, I recently played his onscreen girlfriend. They were surprised,” she laughs.

But things have taken a turn for the better now. Her latest, Michael Winterbottom’s The Wedding Guest, co-starring Dev Patel, screened at the Toronto Film Festival this year. “It got mixed reviews but Michael’s films are like that.” She shares that she bagged the role even though the filmmaker hadn’t seen any of her work. “I had met his producer for another film where I didn’t make the cut but he auditioned me again and cast me here,” she informs. Even her forthcoming untitled spy thriller backed by Lydia Dean Pilcher, the producer of films such as The Talented Mr. Ripley and Queen of Katwe, was accidental. “Lydia was in the jury at Tribeca (Film Festival) where I won Best Actress for Anurag’s (Kashyap) Madly. A year on, when she began work on her next, she cast me in it.”

Apart from connecting with influential agents in the West, Radhika feels bagging that big-ticket Hollywood blockbuster is often a matter of likeness. “You’re very lucky when you look like the person they are looking for. A friend of mine recently got cast for a big international project and the makers don’t think that she is the best actress for the part but she resembles the person they are making a film on,” she says, admitting that at the moment, she’s “getting rejected left, right and centre for all the foreign projects” but is happy because she’s “still being considered for auditions”. 

Rinky Kumar (DNA; November 20, 2018)

After making his big-screen debut as the menacing terrorist in Neerja (2016), this year, Jim Sarbh has impressed moviegoers with his villainous acts in Padmaavat and Sanju. However, the success of his films hasn’t prompted the curly-haired actor to focus only on cinema. Apart from his current project — the web series Smoke — he’s gearing up for a play, Constellations, which premieres next week and marks the opening of the National Centre for Performing Arts’ theatre season. The production, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal as the male lead in its Broadway version, is about one love story but infinite possibilities. Jim will also be seen in another web series and a few international films. In a chat with After Hrs, he talks about not being restricted to just one medium and why he wants to take a step back to  assess his choices…

Apart from films and plays, you are also acting in web series now...
Of course, everyone is making them these days. Its quality also ranges just like that of cinema and theatre. It’s interesting to be able to choose from this wide spectrum of possibilities.

In Smoke, you share screen space with actors like Kalki Koechlin and Gulshan Devaiah…
Yes, I have worked with Kalki in quite a few plays. Sadly, in the show, I don’t have too many scenes with her or Gullu (Gulshan). But it was fun to be in Goa with them and hear their stories as well as share mine because in the series, all of us have different tracks that don’t intersect immediately.

How has it been working with prolific directors like Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Rajkumar Hirani so early in your career?
It’s been great. I couldn’t believe my luck that I got a chance to work with them so soon after Neerja. I am grateful to be part of films that did so well this year. I hope to be able to work with them again and continue to collaborate with directors who are at the top of their game for all the right reasons.

How does working with directors like them influence you as an actor?
Every director is instructive, whether good or bad. Even the worst of them is crucial because you learn how to safeguard your performance while working with someone like that. I have learnt to be a self-directed actor as much as I can. And when you meet the people who can really see your limitations and skill set, it’s a bonus. I believe, as an actor, you need to be a bit of an anarchist to keep trying and sailing in order to succeed.

What interesting things did you learnt from actors like Ranveer Singh and Ranbir Kapoor?
I feel that you have to come with your best game, no matter who your co-star is. I understand that they are huge stars, but part of the fun of acting is that we are all there for our respective characters. It can be crippling for actors to think in terms of stars vs newcomers when, in fact, you just work on the scene. I am like, ‘Let me do my best part and I hope that you are here to do yours.’ Both (Ranveer and Ranbir) are lovely guys, but it wasn’t about them.

Has the success of Sanju and Padmaavat translated into more offers for you in Bollywood?
Yes, it has. But now I’m taking a step back and waiting for a script that I am 100 per cent psyched to do, which I don’t have to accept simply because it’s a big film or because I need to have a release every year.

What are your future projects?
This year, I have acted in two English films — Beneath A Sea Of Lights, which features Barkhad Abdi (of Captain Phillips fame) and Michael Winterbottom’s The Wedding Guest starring Dev Patel and Radhika Apte. There are a bunch of short films, too. Recently, I also shot for Prateek Kuhad’s music video titled Cold/Mess, which releases next month. My other web series, Made In Heaven, which is directed by Nitya Mehra, Zoya Akhtar, Alankrita Srivastava and Prashant Nair, will be streamed in March.

Which has been your favourite character?
I don’t have favourites. It’s like asking which of your ex-girlfriends you liked the most. You loved all of them (laughs).

What appealed to you about Constellations?
I told myself that I should do this play because Jake Gyllenhaal is one of my favourite actors. I read the script and liked it. I went for the audition and enjoyed the exercises that director Bruce Guthrie made us do. The story is about two people and the possibilities of their relationship. Bruce has worked on the show before, so he brings all of his experiences to the table. He has an eye for detail.

Radhika Apte speaks up on #MeToo movement and believes that it needs to be handled in a constructive manner
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 23, 2018)

You have always been open about sexual harassment and had slapped a South actor who tried to touch you inappropriately in the past. What is your take on the #MeToo movement that has led to many women outing other predators?
I’m very pleased people are calling out sexual harassment, it’s high time this happened. It’s coming out in an explosive way but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot of more s**t out there. I’m hoping we come up with a constructive way of dealing with it It’s also important to be fair. This is a tricky one because it’s a sensitive subject. Sexual abuse shouldn’t be happening at any workplace or even in personal life. The kind of things that are coming out should not be tolerated. Period.

Your last release, Sriram Raghavan’s thriller AndhaDhun also featuring Ayushmann Khurrana and Tabu, is a certified hit. You played was a new age girl, Sophie, with a mind of her own and a really chic look.
Isn’t it wonderful the film’s doing so well! And we didn’t even publicise that film much. AndhaDhun’s success is a perfect example that if a film is good, it will run. I love Sriram’s work, we had done Badlapur three years ago and I’m glad I did this film even if I had a small part.

Talking about looks, in mainstream cinema sometimes the look makes perfect sense and other times you don’t understand why we are dressing up so much. Fortunately, I’ve grown up on a diet of Bollywood films so it’s not difficult to visualise these looks. It’s a good thing when you get to dress smart but believe me, it’s tough wearing six-inch heels all day!

After 13 years in the industry, how was it like pairing up with a debutant, the late Vinod Mehra’s son, Rohan, in Baazaar.
He’s one of the most hardworking and sincere people I’ve met. And since he’s travelled around the world and has different hobbies, there was lots to talk about. My character, Priya, is an ambitious girl who can go to any lengths to get what she wants. Yet at the same time there’s a certain vulnerability about her triggered off by her dilemma over what’s right and wrong which makes it interesting.

Do you dabble in the stock market in real life?
I’m clueless. During the shoot I would even blank out on the information fed to me. But Rohan is very knowledgeable about stocks and shares and I would go ask him. (Laughs) It would embarrass him, and he’d ask me to not tell anyone.

On the film front you have two international projects, The Wedding Guest with Dev Patel and the Lydia Dean Pilcher directed World War II spy drama along with Stana Katic and Sarah Megan Thomas. What’s the status quo on them?
I have completed both films. Lydia’s film is yet untitled, while The Wedding Guest premiered at the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF). But sorry, got to be tight-lipped on details.

Touted as the web world’s blue-eyed girl, Radhika Apte says she yearns for more work since her acclaimed shows have only seen her play second fiddle
Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; September 26, 2018)

Three consecutive Netflix offerings later, Radhika Apte is set to return to the big screen with AndhaDhun. Giving her nod to Sriram Raghavan’s thriller, which revolves around a blind protagonist’s run- in with the law, she says, was a no-brainer. “He can call me anytime and tell me to do a film. I’ll blindly say yes,” she says of the director, who she credits for creating unpredictable plot lines. “The way he scripts his films is crazy. He inspires [his artistes], which is amazing.”

Having featured in web shows like Lust Stories, Sacred Games and Ghoul, Apte is evidently being touted as the digital world’s lucky charm. Yet, the actor doesn’t take her success seriously. She argues, her roles in the acclaimed shows were bit-sized. “I was part of one segment [of the four-part anthology film] Lust Stories. I played a small part in Sacred Games. Ghoul was the only show that saw me in the lead. If I was running the three shows, I would have felt a different kind of high. So, there is a lot more to do. I don’t feel satisfied at all.”

Yet, what she has on offer are projects that many in the industry would yearn for. She talks about English filmmaker Michael Winterbottom’s The Wedding Guest, and American producer Lydia Dean Pilcher’s untitled female-driven World War II spy drama, with palpable excitement. “Only few Asian actresses get to play lead roles in non-Indian films. We rarely get the opportunity to be cast in them. I have got the taste [of such success], but I want more.”

Speaking to mid-day at the launch of True Roots Botanical Hair Tonic, the actor reveals that a second edition of her horror, Ghoul, is likely to roll. “The subtext allows for a second season. But, it is the makers who would know if that’s possible.”