Key Highlights:

• Radhika Apte discussed why women struggle to find time for their own desires while balancing work and home responsibilities.
• She referenced a line from "Lust Stories 3" where her character Coco questions whether it's time to prioritise her own desires.
• Apte said a woman's identity often becomes fully tied to motherhood, adding that "there's also a small child inside you who wants to try different things."
• She contrasted how men often rest after work while women continue with cooking, cleaning and childcare.
• Apte's segment, directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, explores husband-swapping and female solidarity, and premiered on Netflix on September 18.

A Candid Conversation on Women's Time and Desire

Actress Radhika Apte recently opened up about why women often struggle to make time for their own desires while balancing work, motherhood and household responsibilities, offering a candid perspective on a challenge she believes remains widely underacknowledged.

Agreeing That Women Have "Zero Time"

Speaking about the subject in the context of "Lust Stories 3," Apte emphasised the need for women to have space to pursue their own interests and live beyond their assigned roles and responsibilities. When asked whether it was always about men having more time to think about their desires, while working women had comparatively little time to consider their own, Radhika agreed with the observation. She told IANS, "I think what you said is so true because women have zero time, it's so hectic, and that's the problem."

A Reflection From 'Lust Stories 3'

Referring to "Lust Stories 3," Radhika said the film also explored the idea of women making space for their own desires. She recalled a specific line from the story in which her character Coco asks whether it was time to do something for herself and her own desires. According to Radhika, such desires could be as simple and modest as wanting to take a walk or explore something new, not necessarily grand or extravagant. "Whether that's a sexual desire or desire to go and, you know, go to Borivali National Park for a walk, it doesn't matter," she said, deliberately broadening the definition of "desire" beyond its narrower, often sexualised connotation.

How Motherhood Reshapes Identity

Radhika also spoke about how a woman's identity can often become closely, and problematically, associated with motherhood after having children. "Identity completely switches to motherhood, and that's not true. You are also a person. There's also a small child inside you who wants to try different things and just live life," she added, pushing back against the assumption that motherhood should fully absorb a woman's sense of self.

Unequal Division of Household Labour

The actress also highlighted a notable difference in how household responsibilities are often distributed between men and women within a family. She pointed out that after completing a long day at work, men may return home and simply rest, while women often continue working through cooking, cleaning, childcare and other household duties well into the evening.

A Detailed Picture of the Imbalance

Radhika elaborated further on this dynamic with a specific comparison. "After working for 12 hours, a man comes home, has dinner, and goes to sleep. But that is not the case with women. After working a 12-hour shift, a woman comes home, cooks food, serves dinner to everyone, cleans the house, changes the bedsheets, prepares for the next day and takes care of all the household responsibilities," she said.

A Personal Observation on Exhaustion

She went further, drawing on her own observations of other women's experiences to illustrate just how draining this imbalance can become. "And I know many women who have children, while their husbands want to get a good night's sleep, so they sleep in another room because they have to go to work. And you know what? I go to work, and it's way easier to go to work than to spend 12 hours at home with your child. It's exhausting. So, I think that's why, if the duties are shared, this won't happen," Radhika added, framing shared responsibility as the direct solution to the exhaustion she described.

Why This Perspective Resonates

Radhika's comments touch on a widely recognised, if often under-discussed, dynamic in many households, where paid work and unpaid domestic labour are unevenly distributed even when both partners work equally demanding jobs outside the home. Her willingness to describe this imbalance in such specific, relatable terms, down to details like sleeping arrangements and bedtime routines, gives the conversation a grounded, personal quality that moves beyond abstract discussion into lived experience.

About the Project That Sparked This Conversation

Radhika Apte featured in the "Lust Stories 3" segment directed by filmmaker Vikramaditya Motwane, which premiered on Netflix on September 18. The segment explored themes of husband-swapping and female solidarity, providing the narrative backdrop against which Radhika's broader reflections on women's time, identity and domestic labour took shape during this conversation.