India Today – October 08, 2018

60 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 8, 2018

MOVIES

FILM-ONLY

FEUD

Actresses Radhika Madan
and Sanya Malhotra, who
play feuding sisters in Vishal
Bhardwaj’s latest film,
Pataakha,don’thavealot
in common except that they
are from Delhi and have
terpsichorean talent.
Madan, 23, a motor-
mouth,isanerstwhile
student of choreographer
Ashley Lobo’s DanceWorx.
Malhotra, 26, is a freestyle
dancer who is soft-spoken
and takes time to open up.
Madan’s first acting gig
came at the age of 19 as the

heroine of a Balaji T V show,
Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi.
“I was paid to learn acting,”
she says, insisting she was
“really bad” in the first
three months of the show.
Malhotra, after rejection in
a dance reality show, got her
big break at 24 as wrestler
Babita Phogat in Dangal.
“I didn’t have to stand in
queues for auditions after
that,” she says.

Radhika Madan

“People would tell me once

you are a TV actress, you

cannot do movies,” said

Madan. “But I used to

disagree.” After the TV show

wrapped up, Madan took

a break “to unlearn”. She

was chosen to play a martial

artist in filmmaker Vasan

Bala’s Mard Ko Dard Nahi

Hota, which won an audi-

ence award at the Toronto

International Film Festival

recently. “Badki is bossy and

thinks she is the ‘it thing’,”

she says of her character in

Pataakha. “She feels Chutki

[younger sister] is stupid

and immature.”

Sanya Malhotra

A few days after Dangal’s

release, Malhotra received

a script from The Lunchbox

director Ritesh Batra, titled

Photograph.“Ididn’tknow

life would get so easy and so

good,” she says. Malhotra

had just finished shooting

Badhai Ho (relea ses on

October 19) when she was

called to test for Pataakha.

“During the first read-

ing, I zoned out because I

remembered these beautiful

black-and-white photos of

the Maqbool cast reading.”

Malhotra is nothing

like the character she plays.

“She [Chutki] is spiteful,

aggressive, loud and speaks

her mind,” she said. Maybe

that’s why all the fictional

fighting seems to have

disappeared when the two

left the set, based on their

bonhomie in interviews and

their lip-syncing videos,

boomerang posts and selfies

on social media. „

—Suhani Singh

Radhika Madan

and Sanya

Malhotra

portray feuding

sisters in Vishal

Bhardwaj’s new

ilm, Pataakha

LEISURE

Sanya

Malhotra

Radhika Madan