Radhika Apte: Keeping the audience engaged is a big challenge

Radhika Apte looks quite gung-ho about her upcoming movie

'Phobia'

. "In a commercial film, it is very rare to get an opportunity to play a protagonist with so much screen time. Such roles generally go to A-listers. Even if you play a female lead, those roles are shorter compared to that of male actors," Radhika was quoted as saying in a report in Indian.Express.com.

And what about the audience's reaction? The actress said that keeping the audience engaged is a big challenge. "I am always curious about the audience's reaction. This is the second time I have taken up such a project after my debut in the Marathi movie,

'Gho Mala Asla Hava'

. It is an important film for me. If it works, it would be great. Otherwise, it would teach me something," she revealed.


Radhika is quite excited about the widespread interest the teaser of

'Kabali'

has created. "It's quite incredible ' the teaser has got 60 million hits. I really like Rajini sir. I had a photoshoot with him before we started shooting. When I walked to his van, he was standing outside to receive me. For the first time, I have been treated as an equal by a man of his stature,"

Apart from movies, she has been exploring various mediums ' advertisements, short films and television. According to her, shooting for short films gets over quickly while the work on movies goes on for a long time. "However, advertisements are most difficult for me, since they are about how the clients want to position the product and not about how you want to play a character," the actress was quoted as saying.

The actress loves to talk a lot about her passion for theatre. When she was in school, she used to do a lot of theatre. "An older friend, also called Radhika, was studying in Fergusson College, Pune, and she used to take me for plays. So I joined the same college and even before our classes started, I did workshops on theatre. Since 2003, I am associated with Pune-based group Aasakta and have acted in a number of their plays," said the actress.

Despite getting good roles in movies these days, Radhika still wants to act on stage. "During the first Writers' Bloc in 2009, I acted in a play called 'Purnaviram', which was a huge success. Then I acted in movies like

'Shor In The City'

and

'Rakhta Charitra'

. I still want to act on stage. I am likely to do a new English play with Aasakta. Since its dates are clashing with another film that I am shooting for in June, we are figuring out how to go about it,' said Radhika.