Radhika Madan: Was told I needed to have a particular shape and size, that I needed surgery

Radhika Madan Picture Courtesy: Yogen Shah

Radhika Madan made a crackling debut with Vishal Bhardwaj's underrated comedy ‘Pataakha' in 2018. She was then seen in films like ‘Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota' ‘Angrezi Medium', and the recent Netflix anthology, ‘Ray'. She now has Kunal Deshmukh's ‘Shiddat' coming up that also stars Diana Penty and Mohit Raina. But her journey in Hindi films has been anything but easy.

The actress opened her heart like never before while interacting with Humans of Bombay. She shared their post on her Instagram account and talked about her early days of struggles and the decision to quit television for films. She said- "As a kid, I was happy in my own world doing my own thing; I was a queen. I was really mischievous & would sometimes even puncture tyres for fun! Growing up, I had a unibrow & hardly got attention from boys, but I didn't care; I felt I was pretty. And whenever anyone asked, ‘What do you want to do when you grow up?' I'd say, ‘Shaadi'! I loved the taamjham! But I became passionate about dancing & dreamt of going to Broadway. My parents were supportive." [SIC]

She added, "At 17, I auditioned for a TV show & within 3 days I was in Bombay, shooting. But it was tough. I barely got time to sleep, which led to me gaining a few kilos. Then, I heard rumours about me getting replaced & that pushed me to explore my limits. So I began working out & lost myself to my character. And I realised, this is my high…this is what I want to do!" [SIC]

Talking about quitting television for films and not getting work for over 1.5 years, Madan stated, "I got more TV offers, but I told myself, ‘You're only 19, if you choose comfort, you'll get stuck.' So, I quit TV to do films. I began auditioning, but I faced rejections. I was told I needed to have a particular shape & size, & that I needed surgery. Who are these people to tell me I'm not pretty? But for the next 1.5 years I didn't get work. It's easy to doubt yourself at such a Time, but I knew the journey is more important than the destination." [SIC]

Have a look at the post right here:

In an interview last year, while talking about Nepotism, she said, "We outsiders don't have the luxury of choice. When I started out, it wasn't like a line of scripts were lying with me and I could choose the best or zero in on the director or banner to debut with. It's not as easy as an outsider. If I start talking about rejections this conversation might go on. I did lose project to a star kid but then my audition also didn't go well. But when you're told you're a good actor but not pretty enough at the age of 20, it shakes your confidence."

Also Read: Radhika Madan expresses gratitude with a heartwarming post owing to the phenomenal response to 'Ray'