Radhika Apte says early days on a South Indian film set were ‘traumatic’: ‘I wouldn’t want any woman in that position’

“Then I did some South films because I really needed money,” said Radhika, adding, “Some of the films that I did, I had a really difficult time on those sets. I remember there was this one time, where I was the only woman on set. We were shooting in this small town. They wanted to add more padding on my bums and breasts. They were like, ‘Amma, more padding!’ I said, ‘How much more padding?’ (laughs). How much rounder would you make somebody?”

“I was the only woman! I had no manager. I had no agent. My team was all men because they’d given me the role. They said, ‘No, you’re not allowed to get your own team,'” recalled Radhika. She added that the sexism started from cracking lewd jokes about women on set to adding more padding on her body. “I’m giving you the extreme example of literally telling you what your physicality needs to be, with no women around you,” said the actor.

Radhika claimed that though she’s usually quite “outspoken” and “brave,” her heart still skips a beat thinking about those days. “I never, ever want to be put in that situation again because I’ll cry. It was actually traumatic. I wouldn’t want any woman to be in that position,” said Radhika. She finds it disturbing the light in which “huge films” today portray women.

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Radhika clarified that she’s not only blaming the men for this culture. “There are so many women in such powerful positions who can make the change, but they won’t. And I find that deeply disturbing,” she said. The actor also added that it’s difficult to align with a lot of people in the film industry because she doesn’t even know where they stand politically.

Radhika was most recently seen in Tisca Chopra’s directorial debut Saali Mohabbat. Also starring Divyenndu, the film is streaming on ZEE5.