Actor Radhika Apte has worked in only four Telugu films, and two of them were with Nandamuri Balakrishna. She has been quite vocal about facing patriarchy on sets while shooting in the South. In a recent interview, Radhika also spoke about how her most challenging role required her character to marry her uncle, played by a much older co-star.
Radhika Apte on marrying her uncle on-screen
While promoting Akka with co-star Keerthy Suresh on Zoom, Radhika was asked about the most challenging role of her career. She replied, “There was a Telugu film I did where I had to marry my mama (maternal uncle). That was the most challenging role. Everything about it, I hated.” While Keerthy first looked surprised and later broke out laughing, she explained to the stunned host and audience, “It’s a very Tamil, Telugu thing where you marry your uncle.”
Radhika, however, interjected and added, “Yeah, but also, like, I had to romance a much older actor. It’s a very patriarchal situation and place. For me, that was the toughest thing. And then I die in the middle of it. He had to throw me (gestures over his shoulder) and then do action. I was like, when am I going to die?”
While the actor did not name the film, the scenes she describes reveal she’s referring to Boyapati Srinu’s 2014 film Legend. Her character in the film pursues her bava (mama’s son), rather than her uncle, which is also common in the Telugu and Tamil states. Balakrishna was 54 when Legend was released, while Radhika was 29.
Radhika Apte’s Telugu movies
Radhika debuted in Telugu in 2010 with Ram Gopal Varma’s Rakta Charitra films, which were also released in Hindi. In 2012, she starred in Prakash Raj’s Dhoni, which was technically a Tamil film and was also released in Telugu. After the 2014 film Legend, she acted with Balakrishna again in 2015 for Satyadev’s Lion. That was the last Telugu film she ever acted in.
Recently, while talking to Galatta, Radhika also called out colourism in the South Indian film industries. “Initially, I think the reason a lot of North Indian actresses were cast was because they were fair-skinned, and I find it appalling. Unless there is a project that there is a reason why it’s me, very particularly, why I wouldn’t do a South Indian film because I don’t deserve it,” she said.
Radhika most recently starred in Lust Stories 3 for Netflix. Her web series Akka is also streaming on the platform.