Radhika Apte recalls difficult experiences on South Indian film sets, says she felt isolated

Radhika Apte recalled difficult experiences on some South Indian film sets, saying she felt isolated amid language barriers and a lack of support. She said she later became more confident and learned to establish boundaries and stand up for herself.

Mumbai: Actress Radhika Apte revealed during an exclusive interaction with IANS that her experience of working in the South film industry was not as good.

She shared that she felt extremely alone and also found that the set was full of men, making it a patriarchal atmosphere.

---

Promoting her recent release ‘Akka’, along with Keerthy Suresh, Radhika said that although she had a good time working in some of the movies, her experience was a bit traumatizing in some of the dramas.

Radhika told IANS, “I haven’t worked in South for a while now. There was a period when I did a lot of South Indian films. My experience with the few films I did, not all of them were very good. But there were a few that were quite difficult. But then I have also done some films in Bollywood which were quite traumatizing. Over the period of time I became more confident. I could put down my boundaries better, and I could stand up for myself.”

Radhika admitted that, being an extremely vulnerable person, she believes she did not know what to ask for.

Revealing she felt extremely alone, she added, “And there’s no contract, there is no script. So it’s quite; it can throw you off. I didn’t know anybody. If it were my home, it’s very different. So when I start from Marathi, even if it’s the same thing, it doesn’t matter because I speak the language. If I need anything, I can go home. I know I have friends, but there I used to be completely on my own, no agent, not a single friend, in the middle of nowhere, mostly men on set. They are speaking in a language I don’t understand. So it was a lot for me to take.”

Apart from being a part of several Bollywood projects, Radhika has also been a part of many South movies such as ‘Rakta Charitra (2010)’ , ‘Dhoni (2012)’, ‘Endukante…’, ‘Premanta! (2012)’, ‘Legend (2014)’, ‘Lion (2015)’, and ‘Haram (2015)’.