Raima on a roll

After the critical acclaim she got for The Japanese Wife, Raima Sen is looking forward to the release of Mirch, says Supratik Sengupta

Basking in the glory of her widely appreciated performance in Aparna Sen’s film The Japanese Wife, actress Raima Sen eagerly awaits the release of her Hindi film Mirch directed by Vinay Shukla who had introduced her to Bollywood with Godmother.

"This is my second film with Vinay Shukla, who had directed me in Godmother and I have lots of hopes for Mirch because of the treatment," Raima said.

Of the four women-centric stories in the film, Sen will turn up in two, opposite Shreyas Talpade and Rajpal Yadav with each story sharing a common humorous strand.

Although Raima enjoys a superb track record in Bengali cinema, the 30-year-old actress insists that she is not averse to any substantial commercial Bollywood project with a good script and competent directors.

"Look, I am open to commercial films. For every Godmother, Chokher Bali, Daman, I have done Parineeta, Honeymoon Travels and Manorama Six Feet Under. I cannot be typecast for one type of roles only," Raima, grand daughter of legendary actress Suchitra Sen and daughter of film diva Moon Moon Sen, said. "I am ready to mould my image, I am ready to essay a role if that interests me. But certainly the offer has to come to me," Raima said.

The actress, who is being appreciated for her role of a widow Sandhya in The Japanese Wife, said it was one of the most complex roles of her life as it was a challenge to bring out the understated performance and reflect the blank, matured and calm persona of the character. She plays the mother of an eight-year-old boy, who mostly keeps silent, but lives like a shadow in the life of a village school teacher Snehamoy, played by Rahul Bose, despite not having any manifest relationship with him.

"I remember I was asked by Aparna Sen to get the expressions right, the look of a lowly placed widow in a rural area, to develop her body language. I also attended a workshop which helped. I am happy that Sen liked my role," Raima said.

Referring to her on-screen chemistry with Rahul Bose, Raima says that the actor is someone who she is very comfortable to work with.

"We had shared screen space in Anuranan by Aniruddha Roy Choudhury. I guess we vibe well. He is such a wonderful co-actor, so very natural and spontaneous," she said. "While I would like to do more films with Rinamashi (Aparna Sen), I have already been associated with a lot of works of Rituparno, who similarly extracts intense performance from his actors," she said.

Raima, who has worked with filmmaker-actor Rituparno Ghosh in Antarmahal and Khela besides Chokher Bali, also has a special cameo in his Sunglass.

Asked about Nouka Dubi, Rituparno’s next Tagore film, Raima explained though it features both her and sister Riya Sen, they would not be sharing the frame.

"Our roles are diverse, but I am happy to be in the same project with my sister. This is our first film together," Raima said. The actress is also set to share the screen with Deepti Naval and Rituparno in upcoming film Asamapt.

"While my role is that of an art director in a company, Rituparno enacts the creative head. Deepti Naval is the mother of a dead child who is the only link among three of us," she says without divulging any other detail. — PTI

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