Radhika Apte as Ahalya in a still from Ahalya.
Actress Radhika Apte has been the subject of several recent headlines praising her performance as the seductive young wife of an older man who forms one-third of a complicated and adulterous triangle in director Sujoy Ghosh's
Ahalya, a short film that updates a tale from the
Ramayana with a feminist and supernatural spin.
Speaking to the 29-year-old actress on the phone, we asked her what had attracted her to the character of Ahalya. "The character was very unique and not one that I've played before. The element of underlying seductiveness and the new interpretation of a mythological story was interesting. Playing Gautama's wife was extremely exciting. Sujoy and I have been trying for a while to work together and this was a good opportunity," she said.
In Sujoy's retelling, the punishment for illicit love is visited not on Ahalya - as is traditional - but on Indra, who is disguised as her husband. Noting the complicity of everyone involved, Radhika said, "It talks about how a lot of things are not black and white. Gautam Sadhu leads Indra into a trap, in a way. And Ahalya is also part of the seduction, she touches him with a finger and her feet when she sits. Everybody is involved in it in one way or the other. Indra is attracted to her and she's doing things to increase his attraction for her. From the moment she opens the door to the way she goes up the stairs and looks back at him, when she's sitting down to serve tea. It's not like Gautam Sadhu doesn't notice what she does. So it's not black and white." She added that Sujoy had briefed her about the character's body language.
She also said that the film does not judge anyone, certainly not Ahalya who is just a 'regular' young woman. "It's not obvious that she knows she's beautiful. Also, the way she offers him tea and coffee is very normal. She's just being herself in the sense that she's not even dressed up, she's just wearing what she would at home. She's not made up, hasn't tidied her hair. She's a very regular 2015 woman," Radhika said.
Radhika thinks it's important that the traditional stories and epics be told along with modern interpretations. "Some of the traditional stories were way ahead of their time - very complex and layered and reflected the society and culture of the time. It's very interesting to see how modern interpretations also reflect today's society and culture," she said.
Radhika, who's been appearing in films since 2005, has made several movies in regional languages.
Ahalya, which is partly in Bengali and partly in English, is her fourth Bengali film. "In the first film (2009's
Antaheen opposite Rahul Bose), I wasn't a Bengali. My character was almost like an outsider. But now I've got the hang of the people, the culture, the way they speak, the way they react to things because I have so many Bengali friends and I've stayed there for a while when I was working," she told us.
We had to ask Radhika about working with Bengali great Soumitra Chatterjee for the second time. They co-starred in 2013's
Rupkatha Noy and Mr Chatterjee plays the older husband Gautam Sadhu in
Ahalya. "The nervous energy from the first time went away. He greeted me with such warmth that it broke the ice completely and I didn't feel stressed about working with him at all. It was a warm, friendly interaction and he's just so charming that it was just a lot of fun. I asked him a lot questions and he was commenting on how I should look and so many things. So many of his films, like
Charulata, were ahead of their time. He's very, very forward-thinking and liberal man," Radhika said.
Radhika's 2015 calendar is already packed with release dates. She's been in
Hunterrr, Badlapur and
Ahalya already, and has
Manjhi, X and
Kaun Kitne Paani Mein coming up. "The character has to be interesting. I don't like to get typecast, I like to work on different aspects, different characters," she said. There's no ruling out of a mainstream, big budget film either. A dance film, perhaps - Radhika studied dance in London. "I'd like to but let's see if opportunities come," she said adding that she doesn't lobby for roles: "Not really in me, I find it hard to lobby for anything. If I'm interested I'll send a text. If I don't get it I don't get it. I don't go beyond a text."
This year, Radhika's also received some unwanted attention after a clip from director Anurag Kashyap's short film featuring her semi-nude found its way online. Some months previously, pictures of a nude woman, allegedly of her, went viral. She later said the photos were not of her. Radhika, who has not commented on the clip from Anurag's film so far, told us that she would make a statement when the film releases in USA later.
"The pictures were not mine so there was nothing to worry about, there was no reason to even think about it. They were funny, I think. People do that, people have internet at home anybody can do anything. Anurag's clip is actually from a film for a special Hollywood project. I will give a take, I'm just waiting for the film to release because then people can see the context. Right now, anything I say will be lost unless people actually watch the film. Let the film release and then I'm better positioned to give a statement. It's releasing abroad but there are so many Indians, I'm sure someone will shoot it on the phone and put it on YouTube," she said.
Got it. We'll wait for Radhika to have the last word on the subject.
Watch
Ahalya here: