It’s a challenge to entertain an audience hooked to Reels culture: Radhika Narayan

With movie theatre attendance on the decline, actress Radhika Narayan believes that ‘reels’ could be the culprit. “The rise of short-form videos has conditioned viewers to expect fast-paced, bite-sized entertainment. This presents a challenge for filmmakers – how do you keep audiences engaged in a longer narrative when they’re hooked to the reels’ culture,” she asks.In a chat with us, the actress talks more about challenges faced by filmmakers, the need for more nuanced female characters, and more. Excerpts:
‘Theatre fuels an actor differently’
Radhika recently handled sound for Lucia director Pawan Kumar’s one-man show. “The sounds were already composed, and I took care of the background score live while the show was on. With theatre, you can get a lot more creative. I believe film is a director’s medium whereas in theatre, actors are in control because it is live. It fuels an actor differently.”
‘OTT has changed the landscape of entertainment’
With OTT, the choice to always sit at home to watch a movie presents itself. “Not to sound too wise, but it feels good to have seen the phase of cinema where there was still this craze among people to go watch films in theatres. Rangitaranga ran in theatres for almost a year, something that is a rarity these days. OTT was not so rampant back in the day. Things have changed now and I am hopeful that balance will be restored soon.” she says.
‘You cannot restrict yourself to one language or industry’
Of late, many actresses have been caught in the eye of the storm for crossing borders to be part of movies in other languages. Radhika believes that art cannot be restricted to a language and being part of other language films can help inculcate diversity. “Only a limited number of characters come to us. So, limiting oneself to a language can result in a decline in the number of good films and roles. As long as you are not putting any language down, it is okay to go out and explore. When you cross the border, you get a first-hand experience of what is happening in other industries. And if something interesting is happening, we can inculcate it here and vice versa.”
‘There is a cap on how well a male writer can write female characters’
Radhika says with the changing landscape and language of cinema itself, she is looking forward to working with more women directors and writers. “The way female characters are depicted on screen is changing. The need of the hour is more female directors and writers, they can do more justice to the character. There is always a cap on how many emotions a male writer can write about for female characters, because their perspective and understanding is very limited. So many variations and emotions can be captured when a female writes women’s characters.”