Radhikka Madan has added her voice to the conversation around body image in Hindi cinema, after Katrina Kaif faced scrutiny over her postpartum appearance. In an interview with Hindustan Times, Madan recalled being told she was “too fat” to be a heroine, and explained why she now prioritises health over weight loss.
The cost of chasing a heroine’s size
Madan gained 15 kg for Vishal Bhardwaj’s Pataakha. She was still losing that weight while shooting Shiddat and Angrezi Medium back-to-back. The result, she said, was a body that was never right in the industry’s eyes.
“I had gained 15 kgs for ‘Pataakha’, and I was losing that weight through ‘Shiddat’ and ‘Angrezi Medium’. I was told that I was ‘too fat. Heroine kaise banegi ye’.”
The actor said she kept losing weight while working continuously, and eventually “fully became like bones”. The toll on her health forced her to take a break.
The arc of Madan’s account is specific:
- Gained 15 kg for Pataakha.
- Lost weight while filming Shiddat and Angrezi Medium.
- Was told she was too fat, then too thin.
- Took a break when her health suffered.
- Now measures progress by health, not size.
Why the standard keeps moving
The criticism didn’t stop once she lost the weight. Madan said she was first considered too heavy and later too thin, which left her feeling that there was no way to satisfy everyone.
“Earlier, I was too fat, now I was too thin, and in between, I was neither here nor there. I asked myself why am I trying to please people when they will never be happy?”
That realisation shifted her goal from reaching a particular size to feeling healthy. She argued that once a person is secure in that choice, others’ opinions lose their power.
The wider conditioning
Madan linked individual body-image criticism to a broader cultural message. She said girls grow up seeing a narrow “perfect woman” on magazine covers, and internalise that ideal before they enter a classroom or an audition room.
“We have to realise that the idea of a perfect woman is fed to us,” she said in the interview. She also credited her upbringing for an early sense of confidence. “I find the idea of loving yourself a bit too cliche, but you have to accept yourself and have fun. Find your own quirks,” she added.
Madan also stood by Katrina Kaif, framing the postpartum scrutiny as part of the same impossible standard that women are expected to meet even as their bodies change.
Where she is now
On the work front, Madan appears as Sailee opposite Ali Fazal in Shakun Batra’s segment of Netflix’s Lust Stories 3. The anthology premiered on September 18, 2026.
For an industry that once treated appearance notes as routine, Madan’s account is a reminder that such comments carry health consequences — and that the standards are often contradictory.
Source: The Times of India
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