Did Radhika Apte understand the meaning of the opening lines of ‘Maya Nadhi’: “ Maya nadhi indru maarbil vazhiyudhe, thooya naraiyilum kadhal malarudhe .” The line is a reminder of that famous scene in Andaman Kadhali , when Sivaji Ganesan and Sujatha meet after 25 years of separation, and realise that nothing has changed between them, except that their hair has turned grey. But of course, Radhika doesn’t likely remember this film. However, she says she very much understood the significance of the song’s lines. “Ranjith explained the situation to me—that we are meeting after ages. Like a photo is worth a thousand words, the lyrics help convey all the emotion easily. ‘Maya Nadhi’ is one of the highlights of the film for me,” she says.
Radhika says she plays the wife of the don. “There’s a lot of life in my character, with the whole plot revolving around our bond. I thoroughly enjoyed playing the young and old Kumudhavalli.” She hesitates a bit, wondering if she has revealed a bit too much, and then goes on. “To be paired with Rajinikanth was incredible. He lived up to his image; he was an amazing person—simple in thought, easy in his manners, and friendly to a fault.” She says there’s no way she would have missed doing this film, as she’s “a big fan of Ranjith’s filmmaking in both Attakathi and Madras .”
Considering Radhika’s not a Tamilian, how did she cope with the language problems? “The lines were given to me well in advance, as was an assistant to help me out. The unit was always professional, and it greatly helped that they treated me on par with the Superstar. That doesn’t happen every day in the industry.” And in any case, this travel enthusiast has previously been a part of Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali films. “Language is hardly a barrier.”
