Radhika Apte

Radhika Charudutt Apte was born on 7 September 1985 at Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, where her mother, Jayashree Charudutta Apte, and her father, Charudutta Achyut Apte, both Chitpavan Brahmins, were resident doctors. Her father subsequently became a neurosurgeon and chairman of Sahyadri Hospital, Pune. She is an Economics and Mathematics graduate from Fergusson College, Pune. In Pune, she initially studied in a regular school, and then was homeschooled along with four friends by their parents living in the same building, who did not want their children to go through the regular schooling system. Apte found this experience liberating, as it boosted her self-confidence. While growing up in Pune, Apte trained under Kathak exponent, Rohini Bhate, for eight years. It was during this time that Apte became involved in theatre in Pune, and decided to go to Mumbai to join films. However, a few months later, Apte got discouraged by her experience in Mumbai and returned to her family in Pune. Apte recounted these times in an interview with Scoop Whoop in 2018, as a learning yet demoralising experience, wherein she managed with a salary of 8,000 to 10,000 from theatre roles and having to put up with odd landlords and roommates in Goregaon, where she lived as a paying guest. During this time, Apte acted in her first movie, a Marathi film called Gho Mala Asala Hawa (2009). After this she acted in Rakta Charitra, Rakta Charitra 2, and I am. Apte said her experience in London was life-changing, as she was exposed to a completely different and liberating way of working professionally. There she met her future husband Benedict Taylor, who subsequently moved to Pune with her, travelling regularly to Mumbai for his work while Apte still did not want to return to Mumbai because of her earlier experience. After a year, she finally agreed to move to Mumbai, and her second experience in Mumbai was far more positive, as she no longer felt lonely. ==Career==

Early roles (2005–10) Apte first appeared with a small role in the Hindi film Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi! in 2005, a project she did "just for fun" while still in college. Bengali film Antaheen along with Aparna Sen, Sharmila Tagore and Rahul Bose. She played the role of Brinda Roy Menon, a TV journalist, in Antaheen. In 2009, Apte had her first Indian release, KBC productions' Gho Mala Asla Hava by Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar, in which she appeared as Savitri, a village girl. She later collaborated with Bhave and Sukthankar again on the Hindi docufiction Mor Dekhne Jungle Mein. Akash Khurana's Life Online, about "a bunch of youngsters working in a BPO" and Amol Palekar's Indian film, Samaantar. and later, appeared in a significant role in Ram Gopal Varma's Rakta Charitra and its sequel. On returning from London, Apte was offered a role in a large blockbuster production Hindi film, but was (in her words) kicked out of it, because they felt she was too fat to be in that film. and screened at various film festivals. Her two other 2012 releases were Tukaram in Marathi and Dhoni, her maiden Tamil film. For her performance in the latter, she was nominated for SIIMA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. In 2013, she was seen in the Bengali film Rupkatha Noy. About her character, she said, "I play Sananda, an IT engineer, who is a single mother of a three-year-old child. Sananda had a dreadful past, which keeps haunting her". Apte's first four 2014 releases were Postcard, Pendulum, Legend and Vetri Selvan in three languages – Bengali, Telugu and Tamil, respectively—after which another film of hers, Lai Bhaari, released. Pendulum, which was described by Apte as a "story on magic realism which takes you through multiple layers of parallel realities, or apparent realities", had her playing a working woman in a relationship with a younger man, while in Vetri Selvan, she had played the role of a lawyer. Legend and Lai Bhaari were commercial successes, the latter breaking the opening weekend box office record and becoming the highest grossing Marathi film of all time. In 2015, Apte gained wider recognition for her roles in six feature films released in the first eight months. In the year's first release, Sriram Raghavan's 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, with several critics stating that she stood out in the ensemble cast. Rediff's Raja Sen, in particular, wrote that she was "sensational" and featured in "possibly the film's finest" moment. 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. Although the film opened to mixed reviews, Apte again earned praise for her performance. While Shubha Shetty-Saha from mid-day.com described her as "excellent in an absolutely realistic role", Filmfare's Rachit Gupta wrote, "While you're at it, hand one (award) to Radhika Apte...She really comes into her own, in a character that's unconventional and full of surprises". With Badlapur and Hunterrr both achieving commercial success and winning Apte critical acclaim, she grew in popularity, breaking into the mainstream Bollywood scene, with the media dubbing her the "latest sensation of Bollywood", Bollywood's new "go-to girl" and the "new constant in Indian cinema". HuffPost India wrote, "Radhika Apte is on her way to stardom, whether she likes it or not". In late August, two more Hindi films of her, Ketan Mehta's critically acclaimed biogeographical film Manjhi - The Mountain Man, and Kaun Kitne Paani Mein, a satire on water scarcity featuring Apte as an agriculture graduate, released a week apart. In 2018, Apte co-starred with Akshay Kumar in R. Balki's comedy-drama Pad Man, based on a short story in Twinkle Khanna's book, The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad. It is inspired by the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham from Tamil Nadu, who campaigned for menstrual hygiene in rural India. Apte's role was that of a shy homemaker whose husband (Kumar) invents low-cost sanitary napkins. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV wrote, "Radhika Apte is, as always, a scene-stealer. She contributes majorly to ensuring that the exchanges between the protagonist and his wife do not veer into corniness." Apte made her directorial debut with The Sleepwalkers, starring Gulshan Devaiah and Shahana Goswami. The Sleepwalkers is in competition at the Palm Springs International ShortFest 2020, under the Best Midnight Short category. Among Apte's other films are three Hindi language projects, The Field, the feature debut of Rohit Karn Batra, Leena Yadav's Parched, a U.S.-Indian co-production, and Bombairiya, an Indo – British production and a Tamil project, Ula. Apte has said that she prefers to work in experimental theatre. in which she played a college girl, Ekta, and Vakratunda Swaha, which was filmed by Ashish Avikunthak over a period of 12 years. She played one of the lead roles in Anurag Kashyap's film on eve teasing, That Day After Everyday, which released on YouTube in 2012. She has played the title role in Sujoy Ghosh's 2015 Bengali short film Ahalya. ==Personal life==

Apte met Benedict Taylor in 2011 in London during her year-long sabbatical when she had gone to learn contemporary dance. In 2024, she gave birth to their daughter. Apte has spoken out against sexual harassment in the Indian film industry. She supported the MeToo movement in India, stating that she was hopeful that it could bring about a change with major industry. ==Media image==

Tanisha Bhattacharya of Filmfare termed her a "powerhouse performer", who is widely known as the "poster child of OTT". Natasha Dsouza of Femina termed her "happy-go-lucky", "outspoken" and noted, "Apte is a rarity and a new-gen star who's known for two things: essaying complex roles and speaking her mind." Huzan Tata of Verve termed her a "poster girl for regional and art-house cinema". Nihit Bhave of Hindustan Times said, "Apte has often taken on roles that other actresses would have deemed insignificant." Apte has been described in the media as one of the highest paid actor on OTT. Apte is an endorser for brands and products such as Clinique, Sanfe, MCaffeine and RIOPads. Her performance in Phobia is regarded as one of the "100 Greatest Performances of the Decade" by Film Companion. ==Filmography==

Film Short films Television Theatre ==Awards and nominations==