Made In Heaven season 2 released earlier this month and has been an instant hit and a conversation starter for most OTT content consumers. One of the most talked about episodes in the hit series has been ‘The heart skipped a beat’ featuring actor Radhika Apte as a Dalit bride who stands up for herself and her identity, demanding a Dalit wedding ceremony. Radhika says that he could understand the crux of the episode as she herself has faced discrimination based on her gender and skin colour.
Radhika, in this interview with indianexpress.com, opens up about her takeaway from the show and addresses the controversy where journalist Yashica Dutt alleged that the character is based on her and that credit is due.
This is the first time we saw a Dalit wedding on TV. What was your reference while you were preparing for the show?
It was so important for that to come out in the mainstream. I have never attended a Dalit wedding and I don’t have a reference point. I have some Dalit friends, and I actually, for this particular show my main reference point was Neeraj (director Neeraj Ghaywan), all the detailed, extensive chats we’ve had and he was extremely kind and open about his own life and experiences and it helped me in order to portray the character (Pallavi Menke) to the best of my capacity.
Neeraj and some other friends’ experiences also helped me understanding it. But honestly speaking, when the episode dropped and we received the immensely overwhelming response, it made me realise that I really have no idea what it feels like to be Dalit because people are so overwhelmed by just the fact that it is shown in mainstream TV. If that can break people and make them cry, I definitely don’t understand what it feels like to be Dalit.
I can’t even claim to understand what it is, what it feels like to be Dalit. But, I have other references to know what it feels like to be discriminated against and treated as somebody inferior, and that’s my gender. So, I understand that feeling. Or sometimes my skin colour, like not at the moment but when I visited England for the first time, a lot of parts of England, not London specifically, were very racist, I mean they still are very racist sometimes. And as a woman it is a battle every day to make your voice heard at the cost of being called difficult. You stand up for yourself at every given point, you’re asking for equal rights at all points… so, trying to take from my own experiences and find a connection with Pallavi Menke for being a woman and Dalit, both, was my attempt and I tried to do best.
Ya, I agree. But you should talk to the makers about it. It is how Made In Heaven functions, it is about very rich people. I won’t be able to comment more on it. It is the choice of the makers, right? It is like if there is a film about a poor family in a slum then the question is why not the rich family, it is similar. The set up is such, they are talking about the very very elite class of Delhi, I am guessing, but I am not a part of the creators at all.
