Radhika Apte has opened up about how Bollywood’s portrayal of romance influenced the way an entire generation viewed love and desire. In a recent conversation with News18, the actor said she was taken aback when she revisited some of the films she had grown up watching. Apte, who has openly described herself as a “huge Shah Rukh fan”, said some romantic tropes that once appeared normal now look very different when viewed through the lens of consent.
“When a woman says no, it’s never taken as no. Chasing a woman was romance,” she said, reflecting on the films that shaped her understanding of relationships while growing up. She also recalled how certain scenes involving women were presented as romantic fantasies, adding that it was unsettling to recognise how such portrayals could influence young viewers.
Radhika Apte Questions The Male Gaze
The discussion also touched on the broader representation of desire in Hindi cinema. Filmmaker Shakun Batra, who is among the directors of Lust Stories 3, brought up Raj Kapoor’s Mera Naam Joker (1970) and Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985) while discussing how earlier films explored sexuality and desire. Apte agreed that the issue extended beyond individual actors or films. She argued that women were frequently sexualised on screen while simultaneously being placed within rigid ideas of morality and virtue.
Her comments come amid a wider reassessment of older Bollywood romances, particularly films in which persistence, pursuit or refusal were frequently presented as part of a love story.
Radhika Apte Returns With Lust Stories 3
The conversation arrives as Apte returns to Netflix with Lust Stories 3, the third instalment of the anthology franchise. The film brings together four directors – Vikramaditya Motwane, Kiran Rao, Shakun Batra and Vishal Bhardwaj – for four stories exploring love, relationships, desire and intimacy. The ensemble cast includes Apte, Konkona Sen Sharma, Aditi Rao Hydari, Radhika Madan, Vijay Varma, Abhishek Banerjee, Ali Fazal, Siddharth and Gurfateh Pirzada. The anthology premiered on Netflix on September 18, 2026.
The franchise itself began with the 2018 Lust Stories, which featured four filmmakers exploring love, sex and relationships through different perspectives.