Radhika Apte on undergoing therapy after being dropped from a film due to her 3-4 kg weight
Radhika Apte talks to India Today about losing a few kilos for the film – which prompted her to go for therapy. She highlighted the film industry’s body image and weight issues.
Radhika Apte talks very honestly about beauty standards. The actor was recently seen in the film sister love She plays a character who is often underestimated because of her “looks”. In an intensely personal conversation with India Today, the actor talked about weight concerns, ageing, and the lasting scars left by an industry obsessed with superficial perfection.
“Sometimes it really bothers me, the weight fluctuations, the bloating, it, I’m not going to lie to you, it happens. I feel like, ‘Oh, I need to lose the weight that I’ve gained.’ I think about it all the time,” Apte told India Today, admitting that the attachment troubled him because it clashed with his own belief system. She further added, “I have never had this problem before. And I was wondering where it is coming from? Because it is not in line with my value system. I believe in natural beauty and I will always stand by it.”
That internal conflict eventually pushed her into therapy, where she dealt with the anxiety as an early professional setback that led her to take on a career-changing role.
She recalled, “I was offered a very big project; it was written for me. I went on a trip, and I told them I wouldn’t go on a diet. I might lose a few kilos, but I would take it down. I was young, I had a good metabolism, I was a dancer, I didn’t need to lose weight.”
What happened next was brutal. Apte said, “I came back and they were nervous. They did a photoshoot with me, sat with my pictures and said, ‘This is too fat.’ And they left me like that.”
The film proved to be a big hit and launched the careers of the actors who replaced him. “By losing about three or four kilos, I lost the opportunity that could have changed my career,” Apte said, adding that it took years to recover from the loss.
The actor highlighted, “That was a blessing in disguise. Later, I realized that it has shaped me into what I am today. It has made me stronger. I can now say with more strength that I am not going to follow these notions. I am not going to conform to your ideas about beauty.”
Today, that conviction shines through in the way she creates space on screen. Apte revealed that she shot two films just three months after giving birth, without trying to hide or shrink herself.
Apte said, “When I shot the two films I was three months postpartum. I’m older than I’ve ever been. And I thought, I will come on camera, and I will come on camera proudly. And I did. These horrible and impossible beauty standards, insecurities, obsession with age, it’s to everyone’s mental health. It really is.”
Apte also criticized the gender-based double standards regarding aging. “When men age, they age like fine wine. When women age, they just get older. They’re not treated the same way, right?” He insisted.
For Apte, the matter goes beyond cinema. The actor said, “We’re so afraid of aging. Oh my God, it’s something you can’t change. The way we understand beauty now is so superficial, so shallow that we’re really not in a good place.”
actor’s new film sister love It is directed by actor-director Tisca Chopra.
This film is available for streaming on Zee5.