Radhika Madan (born 1 May 1995) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films and television.
Madan is a recipient of several accolades including a Screen Award and a Filmfare OTT Award.
Madan was featured by Forbes India in their 30 Under 30 list of 2024.
Radhika Madan was born on 1 May 1995 in Delhi into a Saraiki Hindu family.
Her father, Sujit Madan is a businessman and her mother, Neeru Madan is a painter.
She has an elder brother named Arjun Madan.
Madan completed her schooling from Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, New Delhi, and did her graduation in Bachelor’s of Commerce from Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi, New Delhi.
Hailing from Delhi, Madan started her career by making her acting debut in the daily soap opera TV series Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi on Colors TV.
She played the female lead Ishaani Vaghela opposite Shakti Arora, that earned her massive popularity.
2014
After graduating from Jesus and Mary College, she began her acting career with the television soap opera Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi (2014–2016).
The series became one of the most famous shows of Colors TV, airing for over 400 episodes from June 2014 to February 2016.
2015
While busy in shooting for Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi, Madan also simultaneously participated in Colors TV's dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 8 in 2015.
2017
In 2017, Madan appeared alongside Shakti Arora in the Indonesian television series Cinta di Pangkuan Himalaya.
2018
She made her film debut with Vishal Bhardwaj's drama Pataakha in 2018, for which she won the Screen Award for Best Female Debut.
Madan subsequently starred in the films Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota (2018), Angrezi Medium (2020), and Shiddat (2021).
She won a Filmfare OTT Award for the anthology film Ray (2021) and has since starred in the crime drama series Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo (2023).
Madan quit television to make her feature film debut in Vishal Bhardwaj's drama Pataakha (2018) alongside Sanya Malhotra.
Based on the short story Do Behnen by Charan Singh Pathik, which revolved around two sisters in Rajasthan who are always on conflict.
The story was based on the wives of Pathik's brothers, and for preparation, both Madan and Malhotra met the real women for the dialect and the character's nuances.
For the preparation, both Malhotra and Madan stayed in Ronsi village near Jaipur and learned the Rajasthani dialect; they also got accustomed with milking buffaloes, thatching roofs, plastering the walls with dung and walking for long distances while balancing matkas full of water on their head and one around their waist.
They also had to put on 10 kg of weight.
Raja Sen wrote in his review, "Radhika Madan positively shines in this bossy role, unwavering in dialect and determination."
It premiered in the Midnight Madness section of the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People's Choice Award: Midnight Madness.
The film was also screened at the 2018 MAMI Film Festival.
Madan mentioned that she was auditioning for Laila Majnu (2018) when got to know about Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota and chose the latter film because of its "uniqueness".
She performed all the stunts herself and watched several classic action films for days to famliarise herself with the genre.
She was also injured while undergoing physical training.
Pradeep Menon of Firstpost called her a "delight as Supri" and noted that Madan "manages to make it work by sheer will and talent" despite the character having an "inconsistent treatment".
He further said that she "sparkles in the action sequences."
2019
In 2019, Madan was cast in Vasan Bala's action comedy Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota with newcomer Abhimanyu Dassani.
2020
In 2020, Madan appeared in Homi Adajania's comedy-drama Angrezi Medium with Irrfan Khan and Kareena Kapoor, which was Khan's last film before his death in April 2020.
Anupama Chopra called her an "absolute natural" in the role.
Writing that she "captures the unforced innocence of a 17-year-old, desperate to get out of her small town and see the world."
In 2021, Madan did a variety of four projects.
She made her entry into web series with her performances as Divya Didi in Ray and Avani Rajvansh in Feels Like Ishq, both of which earned critical praise.
She also worked in the music video Ni Jaana, a single by Jasleen Royal.
Her only film in 2021 was released on Disney+ Hotstar.
It was Kunal Deshmukh's romance film Shiddat with Sunny Kaushal.
In 2022, she was seen in a guest appearance in Netflix neo-noir crime comedy thriller film Monica, O My Darling.
In 2023, her first release came with Vishal Bhardwaj's production and his son Aasmaan's directorial debut crime thriller film Kuttey which was released threatically with mixed to positive reviews from critics.
