She made her feature film debut in the Malayalam film Prajapathi alongside Mammootty, where she played an orphan who fell in love with his character. Years later, she delivered a defining performance in the acclaimed film Sufiyum Sujatayum as a mute Kathak dancer named Sujatha, and more recently, in the cinematic world of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, she took on the role of the dignified and the wronged Malika-i-Jahan in Padmaavat, and the courtesan Bibbojaan in Heeramandi, who lived a double as a freedom fighter.
In her 20 years in Indian cinema, Aditi Rao Hydari has given us women who are fragile yet graceful, suppressed yet resilient, each wonderfully layered and unapologetically powerful.
For such stories and such women to exist in Indian cinema was never going to be an easy feat. A large part of this battle, the actor feels, lies in the tricky imbalance between the repression of the female perspective and the overuse of it.
"Sometimes I wonder, why does one have to keep insisting on the 'female perspective.' The fact that the female perspective has been so suppressed, is why you have to keep pushing for it. I wish it wasn’t so effortful," says the actor.
Currentlt, Hydari is awaiting the release of her upcoming slice-of-life comedy film Parivarik ManuRanjan, in which she will star opposite Pankaj Tripathi, marking their first on-screen collaboration together. In the film, releasing on Sony LIV on November 13, Hydari plays the role of a full-time house help named Helen, who arrives to work at Ranjan Dubey’s (Tripathi) home, attracting much speculation from those living around them about the nature of their relationship.
"This rooted and simple atmosphere is something I rarely get to be a part of. Also, I never thought I'd get an opportunity to work with Pankaj sir. It was something I just grabbed," she shares.
Something the actor has also tightened her grip on is what she really wants out of her career.
"One is to always be a curious kid on the set. And to leave my ego outside. Preferably not to have one, thought its natural. I don't like to think of myself at that point. I want to surrender to the director's vision…It’s very important to be present. But to be present, need to be a 5-year-old again because I like to be engaged."
Outside of playing roles that mirror the stories and women she believes in, Hydari has always been vocal about the need for women to occupy more space in the industry. While she accepts that the female perspective is crucial, "the sad thing is that it's important," she says. "It should just be natural, right? Both perspectives are important because both genders make up this world."
The actor feels that the way a female character is treated on screen says enough about her importance in the maker's eyes.
"Certain directors write the women in their films so beautifully that you don't question what position a female has in their own lives. That person’s relationship with the feminine is what you question. I feel like that is a question everyone who is part of a creative industry needs to ask themselves, including us as actors…If we have success or if we have power, how are we using that power?"
For Hydari, pushing for the authenticity of a story is more valuable than pushing for a single perspective.
"There are so many variables in there, and I feel like this is something that, as an industry, we have to be more sensitive about. Every single thing needs to change. Even now, people come to us saying, 'I have a female-oriented subject.' Why is that phrase even there?" she asserts.
It all comes to levelling the playing field for representation. "Do you have a story or do you have sensationalism?" she questions.
"How can there be a love story between a man and a woman where the girl is just treated like an object or a replaceable commodity?... There need to be more balanced stories in the world."