Radhika Apte: I speak so honestly at times I regret when the headlines don’t match the context

Radhika Apte is not scared to speak her mind. She minces no words and tries to be as honest as she can while speaking on a subject. At a recent event, The Free Press Journal caught up with the actress, where she spoke about being confident and honest, and work. An excerpt from the interview:

How confident are you in real life?

I am not very confident. I am moderately confident. I am not an overconfident person in general. I can tell you what I am not confident about. I am scared of being on stage. If I am not performing, I am not scared at all. If I am doing a theatre performance I am very confident. But if I have to go up on stage, my biggest fear is giving awards and taking awards. I literally feel like I am going to faint before going on the stage. I find it tough. I find it scary. I got used to it while I was working continuously, but this break made me feel like I’m back to practice.

You were talking about being nominated for Emmys, what is your take on awards?

I am grateful for that. I don’t feel awards are everything. I think some of the best actors have not been honoured with awards while some get awards (smiles). There are so many people you feel are exceptionally good but have never received awards. I don’t think that’s the aspiration. The aspiration is to improve your craft.

Do you aspire to win or just participate?

Of course, we want to win if you are there. If I don’t win, it’s okay. There were about four women I liked. The Brazilian actor, I wanted her to win. She was really good and she didn’t win. Sometimes people are better than you.

How honest are you while giving interviews?

Yes, I speak so honestly at times I regret when the headlines don’t match the context. It feels bad when headlines are written without context. But I say better luck next time and I shall be careful while giving answers. I was told I am very candid. I can’t be politically correct.

How do you choose your roles?

I have been offered a lot of lead parts in these few years. I said no to them simply because I didn’t like those parts. There are three films due to release next year, which all are lead parts: One US film, a British film, and an Indian film. If it happens, great. I am not working towards making it happen. I just take whatever comes my way, choose the best, and see where it goes.