Exclusive! Radhika Apte on Hindi vs South films debate: Language doesn't define whether a film will be successful or not

Since the time Radhika Apte made a splash onscreen with her incredible performances, moviegoers have been looking forward to her upcoming outings. The actor is now gearing up for the release of her soon-to-be released film, Forensic, which is the Hindi adaptation of the 2019 Malayalam film of the same name. During her exclusive interaction with OTTplay, Apte revealed that her co-actor Vikrant Massey was one of the biggest reasons she said yes to the project.

The actor stated, "For me, of course, one of the biggest things to say yes to was that this project was with Vikrant Massey. Because I mean, that was the first thing I knew about it. I've been wanting to work with him, and also, I love a good mystery. I absolutely love thrillers and whodunits. I've probably seen a lot of what is available to me. So I wouldn't miss an opportunity to be a part of it. "

When asked if she had seen the original film, the actor shared that she had a while back. Furthermore, she spoke about how different the two films are.

Apte said, "Of course, the script is different. The directors are different; shot in a different place; the co-actors are different; the characters are different, and my backstory is a little different. So just, we tried to focus more on what is there and what the vision of the director, co-actors, what he brings, and what I feel the woman is, and just try to be true to what your circumstances are, rather than trying to think about what they've done. They've done a great job, and we're not trying to compete with them."

The Sacred Games actor also believes that a few films are likely to work better on OTT if they have skipped theatrical release.

Moreover, Apte doesn't believe in the tags "OTT star" or "movie star." "I don't really pay attention to those categories, and I don't like being categorised anyway. I don't like to have an image of a particular image either. But you can't stop people from saying anything. So I'm happy for them to say that it just doesn't affect me. But I don't say it myself, and I don't like to be categorized," she added.

As Forensic is a remake, the actor was quizzed about the whole discussion on Hindi movies adapting screenplays from other languages. To which she gave an interesting reply, stating, "I think remakes and adaptations have their charm in the sense that it's a different interpretation or different treatment, differently done and adapted differently. Also, the change of language can mean you can reach more and different people. This whole debate, I don't think there's any merit in it. I mean, every industry, be it Bollywood or any industry, takes stories from other things, whether it's Korean or whether it's Spanish or Brazilian. They keep taking and doing remakes and making this a thing anyway."

Apte added, "So if it's entertaining, people will watch, and it also depends on what people want to watch at that time. So many things actually have everything as a consequence, and it's not just a product of one thing or the other. Language doesn't define whether a film will be successful or not. So this Hindi vs. South Films debate confuses me."

Forensic, directed by Vishal Furia, is set to premiere on ZEE5, on June 24, 2022.