‘I want stronger roles’
Says Riya Sen in conversation with Shoma A. Chatterji about her latest film Noukadubi, based on a work by Tagore

Riya plays Kamala, a simple, semi-literate village girl in the film

Her acting genes go back by two more generations to her mother Moon Moon Sen and famous grandmother Suchitra Sen. But across three generations, Riya, younger sister of Raima Sen, is the one who is trapped in the glamour image so much that her acting talents have remained untapped till now. Her modelling assignments, especially the three-year oomph calendar stint with photographer Daboo Ratnani and her item numbers in several films have relegated her potential as an actress more or less into the background. This is about to change and her talent as an actress will soon be up for the Indian audience in Subhash Ghai’s Noukadubi(Kashmakash in Hindi).

It is not my first Bengali film but it is my first double version film to be released. My first Bengali film was Abohomaan in which I did a brief cameo as the pregnant wife of a young filmmaker. The film was directed by Rituparno Ghosh and this film too is directed by him. It marks another first for me as well. It is my very first film based on a story by Rabindranath Tagore. It is also the first film that also stars my older sister Raima.

I had already worked under Ritu-da’s direction as Tia in Abohomaan. We had established good director-actress chemistry. When he asked me whether I would be interested in playing one of the two lead female characters in the film, I agreed at once. Coincidentally, at that time, I was working in Subhash Ghai’s Paying Guest. His production house Mukta Arts was pondering over entering into regional films beginning with Bhojpuri. I suggested why not produce a Bengali film? They took up my suggestion and now Mukta Arts is the producer of the film in both versions.

I play Kamala, a simple, semi-literate village girl, an orphan brought up by a maternal uncle and aunt. It is the most challenging role of my career so far because it is completely against the grain of my screen image and my real self. The look Rituda gave me, complete with costume, make-up and jewellery is something I have experienced for the first time. It took me at least two days to get under the skin of Kamala. Costume, make-up and jewellery cannot do it all. One must feel the character to bring the emotions across and communicate this to the audience. Tia, the role I played in Abohomaan, was close to my own self. She was a Mumbai girl married into a famous Kolkata family. She peppered her dialogue with a lot of English. Kamala is shy, diffident, an introvert, who is convinced that she only brings ill-luck to everyone she comes close to.

Not really. I did not even read the original story. We were given Rituda’s script, which is very detailed in any case. I read it twice. Rituda explained what he expected of me on the sets. We were actually supposed to do a workshop before the shoot but a look test is all that he was satisfied with.

Absolutely. I really cannot understand why people have trapped me in the glamour doll image in film after film, which has sort of made me a glamour stereotype. I would really love to do more roles like Tia and Kamala. I enjoyed working in Silsilay (2005) directed by Khalid Mohammed, where I was given a no-glam look as a receptionist. I did not wear mini-skirts or any item bomb costumes. That the film flopped is another story. In Apna Sapna Money Money too, I am not half as glamorous as my colleagues in the film are. My first Malayalam film Ananthabhadram showed me in a very different character within an ambience of ghost, spirits, black magic, etc. It won several awards and was inspired by the paintings of Raja Ravi Verma. It was cinematographer Santosh Shivan’s first Malayalam film.

We did not feature in the same sequence throughout the film even once. But she was always around, trying to mother me, introducing me to the cast and crew, seeing that everyone took care of me as I was considered the ‘baby’ in the film. I did my best to pull everyone’s leg as much as I could. It was great fun. I am looking forward to Bengali films but the script must be right, the director must be good, and of course, my role should be a significant one that should contribute to the story and the film.

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