Reports started surfacing on social media quoting Radhika Apte's statement about a South Indian actor tickling her feet. It was also rumoured that either Rajinikanth or a top Telugu Superstar might be the one she was talking about.
The full interview of Radhika Apte, finally went on live, this weekend, and there is a fine clarity now, in what she said. Radhika is all praise for Rajinikanth, and her bad experience was with a top Tollywood star.
When the interviewer asked about Radhika Apte's bizarre shooting experiences, she said, "I did South Indian films which gave me bizarre experiences. They pay you quite high, and you deserve it actually (laughs). It is very hard. I do not want to generalize, but I can share my experience working on a South Indian film.
There was this Telugu film, that I did. There was a huge gender inequality, and these guys are extremely powerful over women. You are called two hours before to the shooting spot, and you are made to wait for a long time, and then, you are treated differently.
On the first day of my Telugu film, this might actually be quite funny... There is this scene, where I am lying, since I am not feeling well or something, and there is a lot of people on the set. Everything is set. This actor walks in, and I don't even know him and he starts tickling my feet. And he was a big actor. I was told that he is powerful.
The natural being that, who I am, I got up and snapped at him, I mean in front of literally everybody, like the whole crew, junior artists, and everybody. I looked at him and said, 'Don't ever. EVER do that to me. I was so angry. I kind of emphasized on the ever. He looked at me, and then, he never touched me again.
I did a Tamil film (Kabali), and with Rajinikanth sir, it never happened to me. He was the nicest and the most wonderful human being. I am not saying that the whole industry is like that at all. There are just a few people like this, and these two particular Telugu films were such bad experiences."