You don't have to beg for money there: Radhika Apte on difference between Bollywood and Hollywood

It’s cloak and dagger time for Radhika Apte as she is all set to be seen in Liberte: A Call to Spy. Based on true incidents from World War II, the Hollywood project has the AndhaDhun star essaying the role of a British spy, Noor Inayat Khan aka Nora Baker, who was the first female wireless operator to parachute into Nazi-occupied France to help the French Resistance. 

Needless to say, to portray her part, Radhika had to do big-time research and rehearsals. The actress shares, “I believe that preparing for a character includes almost all aspects of acquiring knowledge — information about the subject, reading up extensively about the story in question and even related stories that influence my character, balancing out the visceral side of her, so on and so forth.” Hence, she pored over a number of classic novels and watched spy flicks to get into the skin and psyche of the character. “A lot of reading material was passed onto me by writers and producers on-board,” she adds. 

As for the difference between the process of filmmaking in the two industries, she says it’s an extremely subjective process. “I think every director and production house has their own way of working.” However, she did notice two things that set Indian and international filmmaking apart. “People are very punctual there. And they pay you on time. You don’t have to beg them for money.”

A source also tells us that apart from Philadelphia, where the production designers recreated England, the team also filmed in Budapest, where Radhika has visited as a tourist in the past. “She had a great time while working there as well,” the insider said.