The word catfight should be banned, says an angry Aditi

Actor Aditi Rao Hydari has had a positive start to the year, with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat and Mani Ratnam’s Tamil film Katru Veliyidai fetching her rave reviews. Though her Tamil film opened to a mixed response at the box office, her performance was appreciated. So much so that she has got a second film with Ratnam.

“I feel very blessed,” says Aditi. “It’s always difficult when you’re doing pretty much everything on your own and you’re still finding your way. The challenge is to keep moving forward and find work that you can give your heart and soul to.” Her last release, Daas Dev, saw her teaming up with Sudhir Mishra, the director who launched her in Bollywood. And while promoting the film, a lot was written about a cold war between Aditi and her co-star Richa Chadha. Dismissing all such talk, the actor says that it’s infuriating to read about her cold wars. “It is upsetting, because you realise how deeply misogynistic and dated everybody’s thinking is. Personally, it’s not upsetting because we know the truth. It is ridiculous to say that two actresses are not promoting a film because they had a catfight. The word catfight should be banned. What does it even mean? When two boys fight is it called a dogfight?” she says. “There are so many multi-starrers where there are so many male actors working together, nobody talks like this about men. Do people think that girls have nothing better to do than be envious and backstab each other? We are all professional girls and we all work very hard and wish each other very well.”

Working with Bhansali and Ratnam was a dream come true, but Aditi says that she can’t afford to take a breather. “One is always greedy as an actor. I’m like a kid in a candy store,” she adds. “When you work with directors like Mani sir and Sanjay sir, you don’t have time to think about your achievements because they’ll be kicking your butt. They demand the earth and the sky and the moon from you. They put you at the edge of the cliff and say ‘jump’ and you know you can jump because they’re there to catch you.”

The year is going well so far for Aditi Rao Hydari, but she is upset that people alleged she and Daas Dev costar Richa Chadha had a ‘catfight’