Radhika Apte has described one of the most difficult assignments of her career: a Telugu film in which her character was required to marry her maternal uncle. Speaking to Zoom while promoting the Netflix series Akka with co-star Keerthy Suresh, Apte said the role was her most challenging, and that she “hated everything” about it.
Keerthy Suresh, who appeared surprised by the recollection, told the interviewer that marriages between cousins and certain maternal relatives remain a traditional practice in parts of Tamil and Telugu communities. For Apte, though, the discomfort went beyond the plot.
The age gap and a death scene she welcomed
Apte said the casting placed her opposite an actor much older than her, in what she called “a very patriarchal situation and place.” The romance was part of the problem. “I had to romance a much older actor,” she said. “That was the toughest thing.”
There was also a sequence in which her character dies midway through the film. Apte recalled that the older actor had to throw her over his shoulder before the story moved on. Her response, in hindsight, was to wait for the exit. “I was like, when am I going to die?” she said.
Apte did not name the project in the interview. Her Telugu credits include Ram Gopal Varma’s Rakta Charitra, the Tamil film Dhoni that was also released in Telugu, and the Nandamuri Balakrishna films Legend and Lion.
A wider charge about fair skin
In a separate interview with Galatta, Apte turned to colorism in the southern industry. She said she believed many north Indian actresses were cast in south Indian films because of their fair skin, a practice she described as “appalling.”
Colorism has been a persistent undercurrent in Indian film marketing and casting for decades, from fairness creams to the preference for lighter-skinned leads in song sequences. But it is still relatively rare for a working actor to describe the practice as a reason for hiring decisions, especially while promoting a major streaming release.
For readers who follow Hindi cinema, the remarks matter because they come from an actor who has moved between industries rather than from an outside critic. Apte made her Telugu debut with the Rakta Charitra films in 2010, later appeared in Dhoni, and worked with Balakrishna in Legend and Lion. Her latest screen outing is Akka, in which she stars alongside Keerthy Suresh.
What to watch
The interview leaves open a question Apte chose not to answer on camera: which Telugu film she was describing. Because her Telugu filmography is short, the comments will likely invite closer reading of those older projects. The larger point, however, is already clear: the same actor is linking an uncomfortable on-screen role to the industry’s wider casting habits.
- Apte says her hardest role was a Telugu film where her character marries her maternal uncle.
- She says the older co-star and patriarchal setting made the experience worse.
- She has separately criticised the casting of north Indian actresses for fair skin.
- She did not name the project; her Telugu credits are limited to a handful of films.
Source: India Weekly
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