In this weekly series, Rahul Desai lists 50 of Hindi cinema’s favourite “third wheels” – that is, memorable characters whose roles are little more than fleeting cameos and little less than supporting turns – since 1990. There will be no particular order: just a colourful recollection of emblematic faces who’ve left us craving for more. I know it seems like Radhika Apte is everywhere right now – the Baazaar trailer plays before Andhadhun these days – but this in no way diminishes her gradual monopoly over the consciousness of Hindi film audiences. Apte, in fact, had been around before she arrested our (mainstream) attention with her explosive cameo in Sriram Raghavan’s Badlapur. She had acted in Bengali (her breakout in Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s Antaheen was one of her…
Top 50 Memorable Bollywood Characters: Kanchan from Badlapur
In Sriram Raghavan's 2015 film, Radhika Apte plays ex-criminal Harman’s (Vinay Pathak) wife. She manages to lend the role the kind of ambiguous morality that Raghavan’s movies (and side characters) are notorious for
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Rahul Desai
A film critic (formerly of Mumbai Mirror, Catch News) and columnist (The Hindu), Rahul Desai writes about everything cinematic under Mumbai's hot sun, including short films, web shows and desi B-movies. When he isn't writing, you can find him in obscure countries nostalgically identifying locations of the films he writes about.

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