Radhika asked Anurag five times, ‘Is this the Emmys?’

Receiving her first-ever nomination at the international awards, the actor feels her bold choices are finally getting recognition

Streaming media’s favourite child, Radhika Apte, is on cloud nine with her first nomination at the International Emmy Awards. The actor, who features in the short story segment directed by Anurag Kashyap in last year’s Lust Stories, has been nominated in the best performance by an actress category, with the anthology film being nominated in the mini-series category.

“I found out [about the nominations] yesterday (Thursday) when Anurag told me in the evening. I obviously could not believe it and had to ask him five times like is this the Emmys?... So yes, I wasn’t expecting this. It’s overwhelming,” says Radhika.

The actor has been bold in experimenting with narratives, and this nomination will fuel her risktaking attitude more. In Lust Stories, she plays a professor exploring her sexual fantasies with one of her students. “Your efforts are getting recognised and appreciated. These are prestigious awards and even being nominated is a big thing,” says the 34-yearold actor.

The actor feels that web in India is creating good content, and recognition of this kind inspires better work. “This will encourage people to make better content. I think the reason we’ve not got nominations before is because our TV content has not been that good. It is for digital platforms that our TV is getting better and nominated. I’m sure we’ll have more nominations every year now,” says Radhika, who was also part of Sacred Games, which has received a nomination in the best drama category. The singing reality show The Remix has also got a nod.

Radhika is competing with actors Jenna Coleman for The Cry, Marjorie Estiano for Brazil’s Sob Pressao 2 and Marina Gera for Hungary’s Orok Tel.