The girl next door who went to the top: Radhika Apte

A solid theatrical career and a few years of struggle have made Radhika Apte one of Indian cinema’s most accomplished actresses. One of her strengths, taking key roles that others turned down, helped her gain recognition and acceptance in both the important North and South Indian film industries.

Radhika was born in Vellore, Tamil Nadu to doctor parents.

She is literate in multiple Indian languages from her exposure to their film industries. She speaks Tamil, Marathi, Bengali, Telugu, Malayalam, Hind and English.

She was home-schooled along with other children in an informal school, which she found liberating. She later got a degree in Economics and Maths whilst in Pune.

She studied Karthak dance for a number of years under the well-known Rohin Bhate.

She entered the theatre, and struggled as an artist for a number of years. Eventually she fled to London.

She met her future husband, Benedict Taylor, there. She returned to Mumbai after a number of years and began to succeed.

Radhika Apte got her first leading role with a Bengali social drama film named Antaheen (2009) In 2009 she made her Marathi movie debut with ‘Go mala asala hawa’ and in 2010 she appeared in Ram Gopal Verma’s Rakhta Charitra and its sequel for which she was nominated for Screen Award Best Female Debutant. .

Radhika Apte breaks through

In 2011 she appeared in two films: I AM and Shor in the City. She was nominated for the SIIMA Award for Best Actress in a supporting role for maiden Tamil venture ‘Dhoni‘

In 2013, she was seen in the Bengali film Rupkatha Noy. Apte’s first four 2014 releases were Postcard, Pendulum, Legend and Vetri Selvan in three languages – Bengali, Telugu and Tamil, respectively,

Another film of hers, Lai Bhaari, was released. Legend and Lai Bhaari were commercial success, the latter breaking the opening weekend box office record and becoming the highest grossing Marathi film of all time.

Radhika Apte appeared in various Marathi plays like ‘Tu’, ‘Purnavira,’ ‘Matra Ratra’, ‘Kanyadaan’ to name a few.

2015 was a significant year in which six feature films released in the first eight months. In the year’s first release, Badlapur, she had a minor supporting role, for which she shot for six days.

Despite appearing only briefly in the latter part of the film, she was widely recognized and appreciated for her performance, with several critics stating that she stood out in the ensemble cast.

Following a Malayalam release, Haram, her first in the language, and a Telugu release, Lion, she had her next Hindi release, the sex comedy Hunterrr directed by Harshvardhan Kulkarni.^[

In late August, two more Hindi films of her, Ketan Mehta’s critically acclaimed biogeographical film Manjhi – The Mountain Man, based on Dashrath Manjhi and Kaun Kitne Paani Mein.