For decades, Bollywood had set unrealistic beauty standards through its portrayal of perfectly ethereal women. However, a few mainstream actors from this new generation has defied every norm and rule in the book and have no apprehension in shunning the sheen on camera. And Radhika Madan is one of them. At 22, she began her film career with Vishal Bhardwaj’s Patakhaa (2018) which saw her transitioning from a rebellious village girl to an older woman. For Radhika, adhering to the image of a quintessential Hindi film heroine was never important.
In fact, in an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, she reveals that she has faced rejection in the early years of her career for her looks. “I was told that I’m not pretty enough and that my jaw is slightly tedha. I was quite surprised because I was Kareena Kapoor in my head. Maybe they couldn’t see it but ek achchi johori ko heera dikh hi jaata hai,” she laughs.
In her latest release, Sajini Shinde Ka Viral Video, Radhika plays a physics teacher who is slut shamed after a video of her drinking and dancing at a night club goes viral. Even as an actor, she shares that she has seen misinformation about her going viral. Pointing out an incident, she says that she had heard rumours in her early years in showbiz that her father had paid for her to be an actor.
So, how does she deal with false and sensational stories? “I don’t attach myself to anything that’s said about me, be it good or bad. I only attach myself to my craft because that’s the only thing that you can’t take away from me. You can take away my fame, my money and my success but not my craft,” states the Angrezi Medium (2020) and Shiddat (2021). Radhika further adds, “I’ve made a conscious choice to stay happy. I say a thank you to everyone irrespective of whether they feel I’m bad or brilliant. I’m only answerable to myself. I only want to be honest with myself.”
But that’s not to say that she doesn’t read anything about herself on the internet. Talking about it, she remarks, “I read everything that’s written about me. But even if I don’t like something, I just have a good laugh over it.”
While she believes that she has developed a ‘thick skin’ now, trolls and negativity affected her even till a few years back. “Earlier, I used to get affected if people didn’t have nice things to say about me. I wanted to prove to people that their perception of me is wrong. I used to feel like posting something about it. I used to cry too because it used to hurt my family as well. I wanted to give an explanation to everyone,” says the actor, who will next be seen in Sanaa and the Hindi remake of Soorarai Pottru.
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