She might have played a teacher in her debut film Kuttram Kadithal and her second, Vijay Milton’s Kadugu , but Radhika Prasidhha was not a model student. Her father, a bank employee, was frequently transferred and she changed schools often. In Classes XI and XII, she remembers teaming up with other girls to protest against teachers who handed out punishments without reason. All except one — chemistry teacher Shankaran. “He allowed us a free run of the lab. If we asked questions, he would tell us that the chemicals were there, see if they answer your doubts. Thanks to him, I got to make crystal gardens, thermo plastics… for a teenager, it is mindblowing to see liquids turn into something magical,” she says in a telephone interview.
It was people like Shankaran who inspired the young actress to play a sensitive teacher torn by guilt in the National Award-winning Kuttram Kadithal . “It helped that Bramma believed in month-long rehearsals before shooting. I work best with rehearsals.”
But, she was not allowed that luxury with Kadugu . “Oh, they were two completely different ways of filmmaking; accordingly, my approach to acting changed too,” she says.
Vijay met Radhika and told her he wanted her to star in his movie. “I was like, okay, but what’s the story,” laughs the actress. “He refused to tell me. He said that, that way, everything will be new, and I’ll experience what the character goes through. He loves spontaneity and improvising on the sets. I’ve never done that before, and it meant putting in more effort, but I believe the performance acquires an endearing rawness.”
Radhika entered the field without any godfather to back her, yet she’s managed to land meaty roles. How did that happen? “I think I’m really lucky that the first film that came my way was Kuttram … I hit a jackpot with that. Also, I believe in consistently working on my skills. Instead of putting out a portfolio shoot, and being in a position where I’m not clear about what I want to do, I prefer waiting and polishing my skills, or a certain aspect of them — the way I express a particular emotion, for instance,” she says. She cites her crying in Kuttram.. .
“There were many shades to her vulnerability. After a point, the crying was not so difficult, but it was challenging to not bore the audience but get them to empathise with you.”
That way, her character in Kadugu is different. “Ebby is nothing like Merlin. She’s more confident, takes initiative and works on decisions immediately. The highlight of her character is her impulsive confidence,” says Radhika, who studied Psychology and completed her CA Intermediate before she followed her heart’s calling to get into acting. “It is possible that my background in Psychology and transactional analysis gives me a variety of perspectives and puts me in contact with varied people,” she concedes.
But, she believes in playing dumb when she needs or has to. “Sometimes, to bring about change, you need to work with those already there. You can’t work from the outside. You can’t quit and then complain. I’m persistent and believe you can maintain your authenticity and who you are, without wearing it on your sleeve. You can read the books you do, but it is not necessary to thrust your intelligence on people and intimidate them. You have other fora for that.”
Also, says Radhika: “You have to follow the director’s vision. It is his perspective and you respect that, and feel privileged that they’ve chosen you to tell their stories.”
Radhika has also written and co-directed a play on gender issues, I Exist , which was staged at the Short+Sweet festival in 2012. Later, she turned it into a short film in 2015, and it won awards at a few short film festivals in the country. The actress has finished work on Kadugu and has been researching dance styles for her next project — she teams up with Tamil indie rock musician Coimbatore-based Kaber Vasuki for an indie music video for Madan Karky’s DooPaaDoo. “I like doing different things. Each one helps me become better as a person, an artiste,” she says.
