Tollywood male-dominated, unbearable: Radhika Apte

Radhika Apte, in a recent interview with popular cine critic Rajeev Masand, sparked a controversy as she shared her experience of working in the Telugu cinema industry and labeled it as “male dominated and chauvinistic”.

When quizzed about her work in regional cinema, the actress who will be seen alongside Balakrishna in ‘Lion’ next said that she struggled the most while working in the Telugu industry. “The industry is so patriarchal and sort of male dominated. They are male chauvinists. It’s unbearable,” she shared.

She added that women aren’t treated properly either. “Even the part they are given is such that they portray that ‘My man is the God’. And on set, you are treated like some unimportant person while the actor is given preferential treatment,” she explained adding that the experience has ensured that “she has put an end to it” and she wouldn’t want to work here again.

The revelation created a flutter among few industry personalities with actor Naresh (senior) taking strong objections to it. “Who is this joker radhika apte? I didnt kno she existed.probably she spelt 't' instead of ' b ' (sic),” he posted on Twitter.

Not just Naresh, but there was several Twitterati who came down harshly on the actress for saying “something she doesn’t know anything about”.However, Masand came to the support of the actress and said, “Shame on those attacking @radhika_apte 4 complaining abt hypocrisy in Telugu film industry. Fix the problem, dont bully her for exposing it (sic).”