2018 was seemingly the year of the great Radhika Apte in cinema. Apte, who has had a string of projects in collaboration with Netflix India, had some major head turning drops within a span of few months in the same year.

With Apte as a lead, Netflix India had not one, not two, but three big-budget back-to-back releases in the summer of 2018: Lust Stories in June, Sacred Games in July, and Ghoul in August. This apparent obsession of Netflix with the actor didn’t go unnoticed by her admirers, and Netflix India smartly played along to the trolls by changing their Instagram bio to “Just another Radhika Apte fan account.”

Screenshot of Netflix India’s bio in 2018 via ‘India Today’

The filmography of Radhika Apte dates back to the early 2000s. Over the years, Apte has worked in multiple arrays of the Indian Film Industry, where she has been lauded by critics for her small yet impactful roles in films like Manjhi – The Mountain Man, Badlapur, and Hunter for leaving her mark.

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However, her career saw an all-time high in 2018 with her OTT and theatre releases, one such project being Sriram Raghavan’s Andhadhun. The film had actors like Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, and Apte in the lead. It was a commercially successful and critically acclaimed film that earned multiple awards for both the film and its actor. Apte was also seen on R. Balki’s hit Padman starring Akshay Kumar in the same year, which earned her accolades and furthered the argument that she was to be taken seriously.

Radhika Apte, Ayushmann Khurrana and Anil Dhawan in ‘Andhadhun’ (Source: IMDb)

Apte’s mastery of her craft has been rightly identified by Netflix, and the multiple collaborations she shares with the platform just prove the point. As much as Netflix loves casting Apte, we love to watch her on screen. While Apte has a long list of remarkable performances, we have picked some of our favorites that are easily available on the streaming platform.

Here are our Top 4 Radhika Apte Movies and TV Shows to watch on Netflix.

1. Ghoul (2018)

One of Apte’s 3 big TV show releases of 2018 is Netflix’s miniseries Ghoul. While Ghoul wasn’t as popular of a show compared to her other releases of the same year, it still stands out as one of those underrated horror shows on Netflix. Written and directed by Patrick Graham, the show stars Radhika Apte alongside actors like Ratnabali Bhattacharjee and Maanav Kaul.

The world of Ghoul imagines a dystopian future where humans and demons come alive simultaneously, and these demons are literal. Apte (Nida Rahim) plays a trainee soldier under the National Protection Squad’s Academy. The show’s conflict lies in the subtext of Apte’s dysfunctional relationship with her father, played by S.M. Zaheer, a rebellious professor questioning the government’s moves every step of the way. Apte’s patriotism places her in a moral dilemma with her father, whom she considers an anti-nationalist.

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As the story progresses, the social and political commentary of the show is met with a supernatural tone, and the horror genre unfolds. The show is deeply unsettling at times and places the ethical and philosophical stances of its viewers in an uncomfortable impasse, keeping us surprised and entertained throughout. Apte is terrific in her role, and the plot, while slow-paced, gets its job well done.

With only three episodes to its name, Ghoul offers a mixture of horror, thriller, and mystery on the side and could serve as a perfect binge-watch on a day when one is looking for some perceptive scares.

2. Monica, O My Darling (2022)

Vasan Bala’s recent release Monica, O My Darling saw Rajkumar Rao, Huma Qureshi, and Radhika Apte in the lead. The neo-noir comedy with a blend of thriller, which also seems to be Indian Directors’ favorite theme recently, offers a funny take on Johnny’s (Rao) tragedy and luck.

Everything in the film is absurd, yet every event adds up to something much larger in this dark crime thriller. The plot follows murder of Monica (Huma Qureshi) and a power-hungry tech-genius, Johnny (Rajkumar Rao).

Official poster of ‘Monica O My Darling’ (Source: Netflix)

A typical but unconventional who-dun-it, the film doesn’t reveal its real convict until the very last scene. There are problems upon problems, confusion upon confusion, and every time a solution seems afoot, a new problem reveals itself.

The plot is a big win in storytelling, and the suspense is complemented by masterful direction and screenplay. Till then, everyone is a suspect, and who better to tail the suspects than the best tough talker in town, Officer Naidu (Apte)? Apte’s confidence, comic timing, and dedication to the silly accent throughout the second half serve as sprinklers in this delicious, multiple-tiered ice cream cone.

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The film’s title is borrowed from one of 70’s super-hit songs, Piya Tu Ab To Aaja. The director doesn’t shy away from his love for the classics throughout the film, making it evident with multiple odes and references. With a run-time of a mere 130 minutes, the viewers get much more than what they signed up for from this atypical chaos, keeping them on their toes until the very end.

3. Raat Akeli Hai (2020)

While we are on the topic of famous songs that are also film titles, the one film that cannot skip the list is Honey Trehan’s directorial debut Raat Akeli Hai. Following Apte’s love for the thriller genre, Raat Akeli Hai is another crime thriller with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shivani Raghuvanshi, and Apte in the lead.

The plot of Raat Akeli Hai offers multiple deaths in forms of murders and suicide and a cop who has been assigned to investigate the said crimes. With numerous characters in place, Raat Akeli Hai is oftentimes confusing and hard to follow, but the strong casting and nuanced direction somehow make this noir work.

Apte plays the role of Radha, the mistress of a powerful patriarch, Raghuveer Singh (Khalid Tyabji), who is murdered on the night of his wedding with his mistress. In his course of action to find the killer, Jatil Yadav (Siddiqui) starts developing feelings for Radha.

The complexities of Yadav’s feelings for Radha and Radha’s careful manipulation play out well on the screen. As the plot falls in place, Siddiqui and Apte prove that craft overpowers supposed chemistry, and we are left rooting for them. The pairing is exquisite!

Radhika Apte as Radha in ‘Raat Akeli Hai’ (Source: Netflix)

The film sheds light on some important issues, such as toxic masculinity, patriarchy, and abuse, that serve as hard-hitting realities even in this modern day and age. However, the story takes its sweet time to untangle itself and may not always make sense to the viewers. Regardless, the best way to get the most out of this complicated piece of art is to be patient with it.

4. Sacred Games (2018)

One of Netflix India’s biggest shows and one of the most popular TV shows in India, this list is incomplete without the mention of Netflix India’s first original series, Sacred Games. All the accolades for the show are in excellent form simply because it deserves it.

Based on a novel of the same name by Vikram Chandra and sharing its contextual

similarities with real-time events of Mumbai during the 80s and the 90s, Sacred Games is the labor of love of three prominent Indian Directors: Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, and Neeraj Ghaywan.

Upon its release, the show observed a commendable demand and response in India and other parts of Asia. The show also had an incredible cast line-up comprising Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Saif Ali Khan, Pankaj Tripathi, and our favorite Radhika Apte, along with various other actors.

Sacred Games follows the journey of Officer Sartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan) and a gangster named Ganesh Gaitonde (Siddiqui). Sartaj is a disturbed cop who is adamant about saving his beloved city Mumbai, which is supposedly on the brink of destruction within the next 25 days. There is no way to summarize the crux of Sacred Games in a few lines or paragraphs, as every episode is a masterclass on storytelling and plot lines.

Radhika Apte appears as RAW agent Anjali Mathur, an important character in Season 1 of the show. If the reports are to be believed, Mathur’s character was supposed to be a minor one, as in the novel. However, the makers had much more for Apte’s Anjali Mathur because she and the character narrative had much more to offer.

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Apte also believes that the success of the show brought her pleasant attention from the industry, adding to her glory in the year that was 2018. What a year for Apte!

The crime thriller offers gangster action, suspense, and drama on a large scale, and even after almost six years of its release, the show remains a fan favorite. Fans of the show were primarily disappointed upon learning that it had been scrapped from Netflix after only two seasons, especially as it ends on a cliffhanger.

If you’re yet to watch Sacred Games, consider yourself lucky and start immediately. If you’ve watched it already, now is a good time to revisit the show. Who knows, maybe you will figure something out that Sartaj didn’t!