Aditi Rao Hydari is the leading lady of Gandhi Talks. The silent film, which has finally made its way to the audiences on January 30, 2026, stars Vijay Sethupathi, Arvind Swamy, Aditi Rao Hydari and Siddharth Jadhav along with Kishore Pandurang Belekar. The film portrays two individuals in completely different positions in life, and how money dominates their choices, not only for themselves but also for the people around them.
Aditi plays Mahadev’s (Vijay) neighbor Gayatri, whom he falls in love with but is unable to win her back. Meanwhile, Arvid plays Boseman, an originally successful businessman whose empire is near collapse.
In an exclusive interview with us, actress Aditi Rao Hydari highlights the ‘deep’ nature of Gandhi Talks and working with some of the greats in the industry as well as her role in a silent film among her contributions to multiple industries.
How did Gandhi Talks come about and what was it like working with Vijay Sethupathi and Arvind Swami?
Aditi Rao Hydari: I got really excited when it came to me. I didn’t know this concept. All I knew was that it was a silent film, so I was dying to describe it. So I listened to it, and conceptually, of course, it’s quite deep. But it was told in a kind of satirical way, like a dark comedy vibe. But there is a lot of depth to it and it is a commentary on society. And I found it very relevant.
The vision of a director and his passion for his film is very impressive to me, which Kishore sir had, because he worked on it for many years. And then there is the fact that Vijay Sethupathi, Arvind Swami and of course Rahman sir were scoring the music. Vijay Sethupathi, I have done about three films, and none of them were successful. So this was the one (I had to do with that). It was a lot of fun. And I was really looking forward to it.
Arvind sir, I have worked with Mani sir in a film, and he is really like family. But I did not work with Arvind sir at all in this film. I was really looking forward to it. And now that the film has released, and I’m hearing people’s reactions, I feel, ‘It has reached people.
Having worked in the Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam industries and now coming up with a silent film, how differently did you approach this film?
Aditi Rao Hydari: Right now, I am posted in Bombay (Mumbai) and working on Hindi content, but I miss working with other directors in other languages. And when I was doing films in other languages, people used to ask me how is it different? The only difference is in the person who is the captain of the ship i.e. the director. So (it’s about) how the director runs the set because cinema is about emotions. And I think doing silent films has further reiterated in my mind that this is not Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali or even Marathi, this is not a language. It’s just your heart, your heartbeat, your emotion, your body language, your actions, your eyes, (and) your face.
There is no boundary, no difference, no language, no caste, creed, religion, nothing. It’s about humans. It is about their dreams, their aspirations, their hopes, their life. And I think that’s what unites everyone, is what you feel from your heart, yes. And love and everything you give from your heart.
Also read: Aditi Rao Hydari reviews husband Siddharth’s film 3BHK, writes an emotional note
