Radhika Apte is undoubtedly one of the most talented actresses we have in Bollywood. She has been in the industry for the past 15 years but became a household name with her performance in 2015 release Badlapur.
Well, Radhika is one actress who is ruling Netflix. She has omnipresence on the OTT platform. So, today as Radhika celebrates her 35th birthday, let’s look at the list of films and series of the actress that you should binge-watch on Netflix…
Lust Stories
2018 release Lust Stories is an anthology streaming on Netflix. It was directed by four directors, Anurag Kashyap, Karan Johar, Dibaker Banerjee, and Zoya Akhtar. Radhika featured in Kashyap’s part as a professor who has an affair with her student. Well, her performance was surely one of the highlights of the anthology.
Sacred Games
Not many people in India used to watch content on an OTT platform. But with Sacred Games that was changed. It is undoubtedly one of the most interesting web series and Radhika played a pivotal role in the first season. She impressed one and all with her performance in it.
Ghoul
If you love watching horror series, Ghoul is surely something you should have on your watch list. It is clearly one of the scariest Indian series, and believe us, Radhika Apte has given one of the best performances of her career in it.
PadMan
Radhika Apte is known for portraying strong characters, but in PadMan she played a quintessential heroine opposite Akshay Kumar. It’s not that her character wasn’t important in the narrative, but it was different from her previous roles. Well, PadMan is also on Netflix, so you can watch it.
Raat Akeli Hai
While in 2018, Radhika had many releases on Netflix, we didn’t get to see her much on the OTT platform in 2019. But this year, she made a comeback on Netflix with Raat Akeli Hai. The suspense thriller got a good response and Radhika stood out in the star cast.
So, Kajol and Twinkle Khanna’s show, Two Much, is already near its fourth episode. And people keep asking: why do we love watching stars sit on sofas so much? It’s not the gossip. Not really. We’re not paying for the gossip. We’re paying for the glimpse. For the little wobble in a voice, a tiny apology, a family story you recognise. It’s why Simi’s white sofa mattered once, why Karan’s sofa rattled the tabloids, and why Kapil’s stage made everyone feel at home. The chat show isn’t dead. It just keeps changing clothes.
Why Indian audiences can’t stop watching chat shows from Simi Garewal to Karan Johar Instagram/karanjohar/primevideoin/ Youtube Screengrab
Remember the woman in white?
Simi Garewal brought quiet and intimacy. Her Rendezvous with Simi Garewal was all white sets and soft lights, and it felt almost like a church for confessions. She never went full interrogation mode with her guests. Instead, she’d just slowly unravel them, almost like magic. Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha, they all sat on that legendary white sofa, dropping their guard and letting something real slip out, something you’d never stumble across anywhere else. The whole thing was gentle, personal, and almost revolutionary.
Simi Garewal and her iconic white sofa changed the face of Indian talk showsYoutube Screengrab/SimiGarewalOfficial
Then along came Karan Johar
Let’s be honest, Karan Johar changed the game completely. Koffee with Karan was the polar opposite. Where Simi was a whisper, Karan was a roar. His rapid-fire round was a headline machine. Suddenly, it stopped being about struggles or emotions but opinions, little rivalries, and that full-on, shiny Bollywood chaos. He almost spun the film industry into a full-blown high school drama, and honestly? We loved it up.
Kapil Sharma rewired the format again and took the chat show, threw it in a blender with a comedy sketch, and created a monster hit. His genius was in creating a world or what we call his crazy “Shantivan Society” and making the celebrities enter his universe. Suddenly, Shah Rukh Khan was being teased by a fictional, grumpy neighbour and Ranbir Kapoor was taunted by a fictional disappointed ex-girlfriend. Stars were suddenly part of the spectacle, all halos tossed aside. It was chaotic, yes, but delightfully so. The sort of chaos that still passed the family-TV test. For once, these impossibly glamorous faces felt like old friends lounging in your living room.
Kajol and Twinkle’s Amazon show Two Much feels like friends talking to people in their circle, and that matters. What’s wild is, these folks aren’t the stiff, traditional hosts, they’re insiders. The fun ones. The ones who know every secret because, let’s be honest, they were there when the drama started. On a platform like Amazon, they don’t have to play for TRPs or stick to a strict clock. They can just… talk.
People want to peep behind the curtain. Even with Instagram and Reels, there’s value in a longer, live-feeling exchange. It’s maybe the nuance, like an awkward pause, a memory that makes a star human, or a silly joke that lands. OTT gives space for that. Celebs turned hosts, like Twinkle and Kajol in Two Much or peers like Rana Daggubati in Telugu with The Rana Daggubati Show, can ask differently; they make room for stories that feel earned, not engineered.
How have streaming and regional shows changed the game?
Streaming freed chat shows from TRP pressure and ad breaks. You get episodes that breathe. Even regional versions likeThe Rana Daggubati Show, or long-running local weekend programmes, prove this isn’t a Mumbai-only appetite. Viewers want local language and local memories, the same star-curiosity in Kannada, Telugu, or Tamil. That widens the talent pool and the tone.
From White Sofas to OTT Screens How Indian Talk Shows Keep Capturing HeartsiStock
Are shock moments over?
Not really. But people are getting sick of obvious bait. Recent launches lean into warmth and inside jokes rather than feeding headlines. White set, gold couch, or a stage full of noise, it doesn’t matter. You just want to sit there, listen, get pulled into their stories, like a campfire you can’t leave. We watch, just curious, hoping maybe these stars are a little like us. Or maybe we’re hoping we can borrow a bit of their sparkle.
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