Radhika Madan has been fairly busy during the pandemic as she shot two of her recently released Netflix originals — Feels Like Ishq and Spotlight in the Ray anthology — when the COVID-induced lockdown was relaxed after the first phase. Madan, who was seen as a spunky village girl in her debut film, Vishal Bhardwaj-directed Pataakha, has been pretty versatile in her choice so far, whether it was the role of martial-arts expert Supri in the quirky Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota, or the schoolgirl with a mind of her own in Angrezi Medium.
Recently, her act as Didi in the short film Spotlight also got considerable praise. And what has added to her excitement is the upcoming romantic Shiddat, that also stars Sunny Kaushal, Mohit Raina, and Diana Penty in pivotal roles. “I have been doing films like Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota, Pataakha, but I always wanted to do a romantic drama. So when someone came with a film that involves getting passionate in love with that 'rooh-wala' title, it got me excited also because mujhe hamesha shiddat wala pyaar hi hota hai (I always get into serious love). It is never superficial or frivolous for me,” says Madan.
“We have seen so many love stories but I think it is the relevance and relatibility aspect of Shiddat that will hook the audience. It is not clichéd or predictable. Right now, in this world, this society, love is just one swipe away. What do we do? Are we equipped to deal with love in its purest and simplistic form? Or do we complicate simple things like love in our heads and decorate it with practicality... the dos and the don’ts... the journey is about that. It is about that conflict which makes it so relevant, so fresh, and so relatable,” she says, talking about what encapsulated the spirit of the film.
From starting her career with something so conventional like a daily soap (a saas-bahu show called Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi) to transitioning to a film career which has been anything but conventional, the actress obviously aims at chasing challenging parts. The character she portrays in Shiddat is not her, she says. “I am not at all like Kartika. I am poles apart, and I’m more like Sunny Kaushal’s character Jaggi, who is all heart. Kartika is cerebral, almost tactical, in the way she compartmentalises everything in her head, even love. I have this dialogue, ‘Sirf pyaar ke liye shaadi nahi hoti,’ and I just don’t believe in that thought. For me marriage happens because of love. I can give my heart within seconds. I am like that as a person but because Kartika is so different from me, it was so challenging that I had to dive into it right away. I am looking for roles that are out of my comfort zone, and Shiddat was that,” she says.
So how did she discover her character? “I ask a lot of questions. I just bombarded questions to the director right from the beginning, like why is she like this? Or why does she do what she does? Understanding the little details," she adds.
"It also comes from being an empathetic person. If I have empathy, I wouldn’t be judging the character, and I would like to understand the character more. That aspect also comes into play when you are prepping for the character so different from you."
Madan says that she found a great co-star in Kaushal, and that working with director Kunal Deshmukh was intriguing as well as refreshing. “Working with Kunal is a treat. He is such an easy director to work with. He answers every silly question of yours. The set is so positive, so uplifting, there is no way that you will not give your 200 percent on that set. And Sunny and I hit it off from the very first day. There were absolutely no inhibitions; it was so effortless and fun. When two professionals approach the script with the same amount of hard work, intensity, and give their blood, sweat, tears, you are on the same page. Then you don’t have to make the chemistry happen, it happens organically. I couldn’t have asked for a better co-star,” says Madan.
On his part, Kaushal says, “Radhika and my craft quotient matched. Every day, it was like playing games in front of the camera. We could get out of our personalities, and concentrate on Jaggi and Kartika’s characters and see what new things could be done. Radhika is one of those actors who makes her co-star look good. She is spontaneous. You know that you are actually living this moment, and that brings such honesty on screen. She is magical."
For Kaushal, this film was the right opportunity for him to be part of Maddock Films, that has been producing a myriad range of films, from Go Goa Gone, Badlapur to Stree. “Dinesh Vijan has this eye for good scripts, and I am also a huge fan of Kunal’s work. Kunal is such a brilliant director to start with. He is a soft-spoken guy but his films are intense. His films come from a very deep core. The way he commanded us and the whole team was just brilliant. I auditioned for him a couple of times, and when I read the script, I was just blown away. It changed my perception when it came to love. It is shown quite uniquely, and shatters the current idea of love, the frivolous world where we have everything at the touch of a button, and we don’t give importance to simple feelings of love. Here is a boy who is in love with a girl, which is as simple as that to him. That is enough for him to cross mountains for this girl. The film says that if you are in love then don’t complicate your mind, don’t let other distractions come and tell you that you can’t do things for love because you know in your heart that you can do it,” says Kaushal.
“We have seen many complex love stories all the time but we are more, what we feel, is 'on-our-sleeves' kind of generation. Our vulnerabilities, our securities, insecurities are on our sleeves, and the audience is connecting with those complexities. It is not just as simple as girl meets boy and then comes a daraar (crack), and eventually, they live happily ever after. Today, people would want to make a story on what happens after 'happily ever after.' Story starts from there... how is married life more complex while the trials and tribulations is a backstory. We are branching out, and exploring those stories a lot more,” adds the actor.
Madan shot for Shiddat about two years ago post Angrezi Medium. While the film was shot for theatres, owing to the current scenario where theatres in some of the big territories are shut, it has skipped theatrical release and is directly premiering through Disney+ Hotstar Multiplex. However, the actors are not complaining. “I feel so grateful, so blessed that we are continuing to entertain people with OTT booming. At the peak of it (coronavirus), we were all so stressed, and we were not even thinking of work. It was our health and the health of our families that mattered more. We were grateful for the food on our plate, roof over our head. What more could we have asked for? And as long as our film gets the same amount of love that we have put in making the film, I am fine,” says Madan.
The actress has quite a few exciting projects in the pipeline. “I’m doing a film with Jio, and there’s Kuttey, which Vishal (Bhardwaj) sir’s son is directing. I’m looking forward to working with him. There’s also a web series with Dinoo and Homi (her Angrezi Medium producer Dinesh Vijan and director Homi Adajania), which should be fun,” she says. “The medium doesn’t matter to me at all. Till the time the character is exciting, the story is challenging, I just dive right in. My high is living different lives, and I will continue doing that, no matter which platform it comes on. I am more attached to the story and the character,” concludes Madan.
Shiddat will premiere on Disney+ Hotstar Premium on 1 October.
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