Radhika Apte Criticises How Romance Was Portrayed in Old Bollywood Films

Bollywood actress Radhika Apte has spoken about the way romance and women were portrayed in older Hindi films. During an interview with filmmaker Shakun Batra, Apte said she has been a longtime admirer of Shah Rukh Khan and enjoyed many of his films while growing up. However, revisiting some of those movies as an adult has made her view certain scenes differently. She pointed out that situations once presented as romantic could now be seen as inappropriate, particularly when a woman’s clear refusal was ignored and persistent pursuit was portrayed as an expression of love.

Apte also reflected on how such portrayals influenced young audiences. She said that as teenagers, viewers could perceive these cinematic situations as idealised expressions of romance, whereas looking at them from a contemporary perspective can make them seem deeply uncomfortable. Batra added that older Hindi cinema often portrayed desire primarily from a male perspective. Agreeing with him, Apte argued that the representation of women was a significant weakness, especially when women were simultaneously sexualised, subjected to jokes and placed into restrictive ideas of morality. She also questioned the contradiction of portraying women as objects of glamour in one context while idealising them as goddesses in another.