Radhika Apte: Only Alia or Deepika can open a women-led film
Radhika Apte says most actresses sign male-led films because only Alia Bhatt or Deepika Padukone can hope to open a solo theatrical.
Radhika Apte has said aloud what much of Bollywood discusses only off the record: for a woman-led film to secure a credible theatrical release, the industry still looks to a very short list of faces. In a PTI interview ahead of her Netflix series Akka, she explained why most actresses end up signing films where men play the lead.
Not a creative choice, a distribution one
Radhika’s last few titles — Lust Stories 3, Saali Mohabbat, Mrs Undercover and Monica, O My Darling — all arrived directly on streaming. But she said the medium was never her deciding factor.
“I don’t take a project based on whether it’s theatrical or OTT. I don’t really care about it. There are so many business decisions dependent on that; I’d rather be like ‘let the film come out one way or another.’”
Radhika told PTI. The real constraint, she explained, is not where she would like to release a project, but how a theatrical release is financed and marketed.
Why the lead face decides the opening
Radhika framed it as box-office arithmetic. A film’s opening weekend is still traded on the lead actor’s pull, and many exhibition and trade decisions are made before audiences read a review or even judge a trailer.
“With theatrical releases in the last few years we don’t know what is working or what isn’t. A theatrical release where I am the lead would probably tank even if it’s the best film.”
She added that she is not Alia Bhatt or Deepika Padukone, whose names at least carry the hope of an opening. “That means I have to be in a film where men are doing the main part,” she said.
For readers, the takeaway is that the gap between an OTT release and a cinema release often has less to do with a script’s quality than with how confidently a film can be sold on day one.
Alia and Deepika’s uneven recent record
Radhika’s examples are generous, but the recent numbers show even top female stars are not immune to the opening-day problem.
- Alia Bhatt: Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022) remains one of Hindi cinema’s biggest female-led grossers, but her later solo releases Jigra and Alpha underperformed. Her last clear box-office win, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, shared top billing with Ranveer Singh.
- Deepika Padukone: has not headlined a solo theatrical release since Chhapaak. Her ₹1000-crore grossers Pathaan, Jawan and Kalki 2898 AD all carried major male leads — Shah Rukh Khan in two, and Prabhas with Amitabh Bachchan in the third.
That pattern reinforces the point: even when female stars lead or co-lead, the biggest theatrical bets usually have a male star attached to secure the opening weekend.
What’s next for Radhika
Akka, a 1980s-set gangster drama co-starring Keerthy Suresh, premieres on Netflix on October 30. It gives Radhika a leading role without the box-office pressure she just described.
The next time a favourite actress appears straight on streaming, the reason may be less about creative preference and more about an industry that still books opening weekends on a very small list of names.
Source: Hindustan Times
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