Aditi Rao Hydari ditches dialogue and Doubles Down on Craft in its purest form in Gandhi Talks

Some actors chase what’s working. Aditi Rao Hydari has never been that girl. She has built a career doing the opposite. Long before “pan-India”, “content cinema” or “strong female roles” became industry’s most popular buzzwords, Aditi was already puahing the narrative towards films where craft mattered more than noise. Gandhi Talks, a silent film in 2026, isn’t a sudden act of bravery on her part but the most natural extension of a pattern she’s followed.

This is an actor who has moved between the worlds of Mani Ratnam and Sanjay Leela Bhansali among others and worked with filmmakers who demand diametrically different kinds of process and performances from her. Aditi has survived, thrived and stood out in all her work. But more importantly, she’s never seemed anxious about image maintenance. While many of her contemporaries carefully orbit commercial formulas, Aditi repeatedly steps into films where merit, credibility, craft and longevity take priority.
Period dramas, intimate romances, socially relevant dramas, thrillers – her filmography has something for every one.

Her newest offering Gandhi Talks takes that instinct and chases glory with it. By design, a silent film leaves an actor nowhere to hide. No punchy lines to manufacture impact. You are left with the face, the eyes, breath, stillness — tools Aditi has always thrived on., and been celebrated for

The film’s newly dropped trailer makes the vision of every artiste on it clear.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with the deft Vijay Sethupathi, Aditi soars to match him. Their chemistry feels palpable.

What makes this powerful isn’t merely that it is “different.” It’s that it’s consistent with who she has always been as an artiste, someone more interested in experience than in the safety of a formula. In an era dominated by spectacle and scale, Aditi choosing a form that relies purely on presence feels almost subversive.

With A.R. Rahman’s music becoming the film’s emotional voice and Kishor Pandurang Belekar directing, Gandhi Talks may be an experiment. But for Aditi Rao Hydari, it feels like a homecoming to the kind of fearless performance space she’s been working towards all along!

The film releases worldwide on January 30, 2026.