‘Unlike Other Industries, There Are Very Few A-Lister Actors In India Who Are Actually Good Actors’

Actor Radhika Apte is excited about her Hollywood film, A Call To Spy, in which plays Noor Inayat Khan, the World War II British secret agent. In an interview with Lachmi Deb Roy, she says acting doesn’t offer the security of salaried vocations since it’s a freelance job. Excerpts:

On the Indian Institute of Human Brands calling her the queen of OTT....

It’s a pleasure. I am not much of a title person, but it feels nice to be recognised and a little competition is not bad either.

How was 2020 for you?

I am happy that both projects—A Call To Spy and Raat Akeli Hai—were widely appreciated.

Noor Inayat Khan, your character, is based on a true story. How was it like to roleplay a real person from the past?

The plot is not real because the three women shown in the film had not met in real life. That part is fiction. When you are playing a real person, it is difficult to maintain balance, where you are not taking the person away from who they are. You have to stay true to the person and at the same time make it your own. I read a lot on her. There is a lot of material…she had written about herself. But there are no videos. You have photographs and some literature. I did some research. In the end, you have to connect to the character and come up with your ­interpretation of the person, her ideologies and ­intention, her motivations. And make them your own.

The OTT space has grown exponentially and the ­pandemic has hastened the process. Do you think this is the future of entertainment?

I hope this doesn’t become the future of entertainment. I hope cinemas don’t die and viewers watch films on the big screen. As a form of entertainment and activity, the theatre experience should never go away.

Regional, mainstream and now international films…how do you manage time?

Nothing happens simultaneously. You do one thing at a time. I do one project and fly into another. ­Sometimes the difficult bit is logistics because you have to hop between nations. I love to be on the move.

How do you choose your roles?

Preferences change. There was a time when I desperately wanted to be seen, and there was a time when I was broke and needed money, and I signed up for a bunch of films. It depends on your need. ­Hopefully, I have come to a point now where I try to take up projects that make me happy…pass up the need to wake up at ridiculous hours for a shoot.

You don’t do typical Bollywood movies....

I choose not to do such films. I find them a bit exhausting.

How difficult was your journey in the industry?

There were ups and down. Freelance jobs are difficult across any platform. Acting is a freelance job, so you don’t have the security. You have to find the next job. There is too much competition and you have to find your own way. What you struggle with sometimes is not really the acting bit that you need to brush up, but the other things you have to do to be an actor in India, which are exhausting. There are a lot of publicity events, there is social media and there are inner circles. In other industries, the A-list cameramen are good cameramen, and the A-list writers are good writers. When it comes to acting, all A-listers are not necessarily great actors. There are a few A-listers who are good. That is the difference in our industry. But, with OTT platforms, things are changing a bit because everybody gets the same opportunity economically.

What’s next?

I haven’t worked for a year and I haven’t been in India. I am just figuring out my travel plans to come to India and finish the web show I am working on.