19 August,2015 08:06 AM IST | | PTI
In her ten year-long career in Bollywood, actress Radhika Apte has had a mixed bag of big small budget films, but she believes at the end of the day an actor needs commercial viability
Radhika Apte
Gehlaur (Bihar): In her ten year-long career in Bollywood, actress Radhika Apte has had a mixed bag of big small budget films, but she believes at the end of the day an actor needs commercial viability.
Radhika Apte. Pic/Santa Banta
Apte, 29, who started her Bollywood career with "Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi!" in 2005, before turning heads with this year's box-office success "Badlapur", feels commercial movies provide actors with a reach which is necessary.
"A commercial movie is not a statement to prove anything to an audience, but it gives the actor a certain amount of reach. Unless you reach, how will things happen. It is a calculation at the end of the day where you not only need to be good at your job but also should have commercial viability to be cast in films. "You cannot juts make films, invest crores and get nothing in return. So it is a balance of both," she told PTI.
The actress was praised for her performance in the Varun Dhawan-starrer and followed it up with the adult comedy "Hunterrr" and garnered acclaim for her mysterious turn in Sujoy Ghosh's short film "Ahalya". Apte is elated with the response and is hoping that the love stays, bringing along some criticism too.
"The appreciation that I am receiving definitely feels good. I hope the love continues to stay. I have been criticised too, which is good. I hope there is a lot more criticism and appreciation to come. "I enjoy the process of work so long I am getting good offers and that gets better day by day, I am happy."
The actress will be seen in Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer "Manjhi- The Mountain Man", directed by Ketan Mehta. She plays the wife of Dashrath Manjhi, a poor labourer hailing from Gehlaur village in Gaya district widely known as the "Mountain Man".
He carved a road out of a mountain using only hammer and chisel after his wife passed away without medical treatment as travel to the nearest hospital took a lot of time due to the mountain. "I play Phaguniya in the film, where the love story is the focal point. The relationship between Manjhi and her is very interesting. We have tried to show it as real as possible with passion, romance, fights, yelling. It was fun building the relationship like that."
"Manjhi- The Mountain Man" releases this Friday. "Manjhi" marks Apte's second biopic film, after her 2012 Marathi movie "Tukaram" where she played Aawalibai, second wife of Tukaram, and the actress says there were no do's and don'ts to follow, except to get her character right. "Women generally here are a little loud, they talk in a certain way and their gestures too are very loud.
I tried to incorporate that. I met the family too as we were staying here for almost a month and a half. That gave me the feel of my character." This will be the first time Apte will share screen space with Siddiqui, despite both of them starring in "Badlapur". "Nawaz in one of the most talented actors in the country.
For him, it is all about his work. He is very focused, with no tantrums. It's always best to have a good actor in front of you because then your performance also gets better. "I liked the fact about him that when we improvise he literally does whatever comes to his mind," she said. The actress will be next seen in Leena Yadav's "Parched" which has been selected to be shown in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.
"I am very excited. I worked really hard for the film. We shot in Rajasthan for two months, which was a good hard work. I am happy that I will be attending the Toranto Film Festival. I have taken an off and I am going to watch all the films possible there. "I am playing a village women again in 'Parched' but the role is very different from the one in 'Manjhi'."
