Radhika Apte says ‘working abroad is tough’, talks about her projects in the West

Radhika Apte has always played a variety of roles on screen, each more interesting than the other. After playing a cop with a spicy way of tongue in Monica O My Darling, the actor recently played a housewife-cum-undercover spy in Anushree Mehta’s film Mrs Undercover. The film may have received a mixed response but there is no denying how interestingly the actor played the role of Durga, a vulnerable woman who hardly has a say in front of her husband but is given the task to find a most wanted killer. Also read: Mrs Undercover trailer: Housewife-spy Radhika Apte has to choose between the mission and her son’s unit tests. Watch

Radhika, who is trained in contemporary dance from London, has now said she would be happy to do more action and more dance on screen if the filmmakers are listening.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Radhika talked about her latest film which released on ZEE5, and she is anything but “just a housewife” in real life. She also talked about working extensively on OTT and why the audience is choosing it over theatres. Excerpts:

Would you have married somebody just for a cover had you been in Durga’s place?
If I was a real undercover, maybe I would have married somebody just for a cover.

You are not at all a conventional housewife. You travel from London to India for work and you both make it work. What is your life as a wife when you are in London?
Yeah. I’m not conventional. I’m not a housewife at all. Me and my husband do everything together or we distribute jobs equally, and we have complete equality in our relationship.

You spend a lot of your time in London as well. Haven’t you thought of doing some work in the West? We are also yet to see you dance on screen.
I hope the filmmakers are listening to me – I would love to do more dance and more action in films. Working abroad is tough but I just finished a British film called System Midnight, and I have another American film in the pipeline. So let’s see. I like to do work in India also, I want to keep doing both.

You recently spoke about how you lost a project just because you were 3-4 kgs more. Do you still lose out on projects over stupid reasons or are you calling the shots now?
I think things are changing now; weight, looks and everything. This is not entirely governing how people are doing things and how people are, whether people are getting jobs or not. Things are definitely changing, thanks to so many people and their contribution towards it.

Is there a recent character you have loved and wish you get to play something like that?
I really like my character in Monica O My Darling. I wish we do something, on that, some extension of that.

OTT has boomed like anything and is the best place for talent now. Do you think silver screen is now mostly for big budget glamourous entertainers and pure talent suits OTT?
Let’s just wait and see what happens in OTT and films because I think there are various reasons why probably the theatres have become a bit difficult to rely on. It’s a costly affair to go every weekend to the theatre, take the whole family when it’s so cheap to sit at home and watch such a variety of content. Cinema is a part of our culture and I don’t think it will die. I’m sure there will be a good balance that we can find.