‘I hated everything about it’: Radhika Apte recalls romancing older actor in Telugu film

 

Radhika Apte has appeared in only four Telugu films in her career, two of them alongside Nandamuri Balakrishna. In a recent interview, Radhika opened up about one of the most challenging roles of her career, in which her character was required to marry her maternal uncle, played by a much older actor.

While promoting Akka, alongside co-star Keerthy Suresh, Radhika was asked about the most challenging role she had played. Recalling a Telugu film, she told Zoom, “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.” Keerthy initially looked surprised before bursting into laughter. She then explained to the stunned host and audience, “It’s a very Tamil, Telugu thing where you marry your uncle.”

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Radhika, however, clarified that the age difference and the patriarchal setting also made the experience difficult for her. She 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?”

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In a recent interview with Galatta, Radhika Apte also called out colourism in the South Indian film industry, sharing how fair skin influenced the casting of North Indian actresses in South Indian films. She said, “I think the reason a lot of North Indian actresses were cast was because they were fair-skinned, and I find it appalling.”

Radhika Apte made her Telugu debut in 2010 with Ram Gopal Varma‘s Rakta Charitra films, which was also released in Hindi. In 2012, she starred in Prakash Raj’s Dhoni, a Tamil film that was also released in Telugu. She worked with Balakrishna in Legend (2014) and reunited with him the following year for Satyadev’s Lion. The latter remains her last Telugu film to date.