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Radhika says she ‘auditions more for films abroad’ than in India
Hindi, Marathi and Bengali cinema to projects in South India, Radhika Apte has done it all. Now, making her foray into Hollywood, the actor says she always had the desire to do international cinema.
Apte will feature in Michael Winterbottom’s The Wedding Guest, alongside Dev Patel, and in Lydia Dean’s untitled World War II spy drama, with Stana Katic and Sarah Megan Thomas. “My desire was not just to do a Hollywood film but an international film ... to do world cinema. I don’t want to restrict myself to just one kind of cinema,” says the 32-year-old actor.
In the World War II film, she will be playing Noor Inayat Khan, a spy of Indian descent. The movie traces the story of British intelligence officer Vera Atkins (Katic) and the two women she sends into France as spies, one of whom is Khan.
“We have not had a film on them. I felt [that] it is a very interesting and important subject,” says Apte. What appealed the most about Khan to her was that she had a certain internationality to her character. “She (Khan) was born in Russia, her mother was an American, her father was an Indian Muslim. She was a British national who grew up in France. She used to write, she was a musician. She was ahead of her times. She was brave. I don’t think there was any other character who is so unique and extraordinary,” adds Apte, who did her research on the character.
The Pad Man actor, however, remains tight-lipped about revealing more details regarding both of her international projects. She may be cracking international projects now, but she says she has been giving auditions for films abroad for quite some time. “I audition more for films abroad than I do in India as in here people have seen my work more... There were some international collaborations with my films like Parched, The Ashram.”
Talking about how the working style differs between Hollywood and the Hindi film industry, Apte adds, “[In the West] everything starts on time, ends on time. I feel, in India, we are capable of more hectic work [and] any kind of disaster management with far more efficiency.”
I don’t want to restrict myself to just one kind of cinema... I audition more for films abroad than I do in India as in here people have seen my work more.
RADHIKA APTE ACTOR