Radhika Madan: Earlier some things would shock me about the film industry, now nothing surprises me

For Radhika Madan, being an outsider in the film industry has not been a disadvantage. While most filmi kids prefer to start off with a conventional potboiler for a mass appeal, people without any connections shine in off beat films and make their presence felt.

She too started off with Vishal Bhardwaj’s Patakha (2018), alongside Sanya Malhotra. However, her choices have not been to cater to this. “People who are not from the film industry, they don’t have anything to lose. They are kind of fearless, and like ‘I am going to give it my all anyway’ If it doesn’t work out, nobody will say anything. And when nobody is saying anything, that pressure is off. When you enter in fearlessly, with all your heart and passion, it somewhere pays off,” says the 26-year-old, most recently seen in the film Shiddat.

There must be some things about being an actor though which she still can’t wrap her head around. Madan replies when asked, “Now I am accustomed to everything. I have seen it all and know ‘haan this happen’ Earlier, it used to shock me a lot. Now I have been here for the past seven years, now things don’t shock me. And what those things were, I can’t even remember because I am a different person now. Now that I think about it, it is fine. I don’t think anything surprises me now.”

Does she feel at home in the film world? She says a yes, and thanks the people who have shown belief in her. “Especially Dinu (Dinesh Vijan, producer of Shiddat and Angrezi Medium) When he gave me Angrexi Medium, I had just done Pataakha, gained 12kgs for it, played a village girl with a tan and what not. He saw something in me. I am really grateful to all my producers and directors. I came from nowhere, I didn’t have anything to give them apart from my talent and passion,” says Madan.