Radhika Apte has spent two decades moving between Hindi and South Indian cinema, but she has now explained why she deliberately kept her distance from one part of that world. It was not a lack of offers. It was casting bias.
A career choice, not a gap
Her credits include Vetri Selvan, Rajinikanth’s Kabali and Lion. Her last South Indian release, Chithiram Pesuthadi 2, arrived in 2019 — six years after she shot it. In a recent interaction with News18, Apte said that pause was conscious.
The fairness factor
“I could be wrong but in my perception, north Indian actresses were cast down south because they were fairer. I’m not fair,” she said. She added that she wondered why South Indian actresses were not cast in South Indian films, and why actors from Bombay who could not speak the language got dubbed instead.
Her observation is specific, but it points to a wider pattern. She said the same instinct shows up elsewhere: “And here, they want foreigners. We’ve a tendency to do that.” Apte praised South Indian women as “absolutely beautiful, talented and amazing” and said she did not want to promote a system that overlooked them.
Warm sets, complicated favours
Apte also described South sets as more informal, where a lot happened “out of dosti” and she was treated like family. That kindness had a flip side, she said: she felt she would have to do things out of favour, which became a problem. The comfort was real, but so was the pressure.
Akka brings a South-set return
Her next role lands right in the middle of this conversation. Akka, a Netflix gangster drama, is set in the 1980s in the fictional South Indian kingdom of Pernuru. Apte plays Rudra, who finds herself in a power struggle with Bhavani, played by Keerthy Suresh.
- Title: Akka
- Platform: Netflix
- Premiere: October 30, 2026
- Setting: 1980s fictional South Indian kingdom of Pernuru
- Cast: Radhika Apte as Rudra, Keerthy Suresh as Bhavani
- Team: Written and directed by Dharmaraj Shetty, produced by YRF Entertainment
For celebrity-watchers, the distinction matters: this was a decision, not an overlooked gap. Apte kept working, she said, just not in a part of the industry where she felt the casting logic worked against local women.
Written and directed by Dharmaraj Shetty and produced by YRF Entertainment, the series explores power, loyalty, rivalry and revenge. It gives Apte a return to a South-set story on her own terms — and gives viewers a chance to see the conversation she just started play out on screen.
Source: Hindustan Times
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