‘I didn’t want to act in it, but wanted to direct’

Widespread appreciation for The Sleepwalkers’ trailer

Radhika Apte has portrayed many different roles in her films, and now has taken up direction too. During the lockdown, the actress released the trailer of her directorial debut The Sleepwalkers which won the Best Midnight Short award at the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival.

In a recent interview with a leading publication, Radhika said “I had never thought of making films. There was no such plan. I just had the urge to write because sometimes you want to create content that challenges you. Roles that come your way are not necessarily from the space that you want them to come from. I just wanted to write something that interested me. There are things that I passionately want to do. When I bounced the story to Honey Trehan and Abhishek Chaubey, they decided to make it. I had 10 days for the prep and shoot. When I finished writing, I realized I didn’t want to act in it, but I wanted to direct it. And I absolutely loved the process.”

The trailer has garnered much appreciation from audiences.

Meanwhile, her performance in the recently released OK Computer was widely appreciated and she will next be seen in Mrs Undercover playing a housewife who turns into an undercover agent.

“I had never thought of making films... I just wanted to write something that interested me... When I finished writing, I realized I didn’t want to act in it, but I wanted to direct it. And I absolutely loved the process.”

— Radhika Apte, actor