Riya Sen opens up on her sexualisation in movies, reveals why she quit Bollywood
"I was in school when the tag of 'sexy' started coming way. There was so much pressure to always look perfect, a certain way. Even when I went out, people had this perception that 'Oh Riya Sen' because they feel what you're on screen, you're the same in real life" said Riya.
New Delhi: Bollywood actress Riya Sena has opened up about sexualisation, first in school and then in movie industry and music videos. Riya says that she felt very uncomfortable doing the ‘compromising scenes’ in these movies and hence decided to quit the industry.
Riya hails from a family of artistes that includes her grandmother Suchitra Sen, mother Moon Moon Sen, and sister Raima Sen.
She was just 16 when she got her breakthrough in 1998 after she featured in the music video of Falguni Pathak’s song Yaad Piya Ki Aane Lagi.
Films naturally followed, with director Bharathiraja’s Tamil romantic drama Taj Mahal in 1999 marking her big-screen debut.
Riya went on to star in Hindi films, including the 2001 sleeper hit comedy Style Sujoy Ghosh’s musical drama “Jhankaar Beats” (2003) and Ajay Devgn’s “Qayamat: City Under Threat” (2003).
The actor said when she began her Bollywood journey, she was excited about how her choices were paying off at the box office. But with commercial success, the tag of being “bold” caught up.
“I realised some of the films I did, after a few hits that I had, they weren’t working for me because I wasn’t comfortable in the roles I was playing. That’s why probably people thought I was a bad actress and I don’t blame them. “At that point when I did a lot of Bollywood movies, it was about being sexy, the clothes that you wear, the makeup that you do. I didn’t fit into that,” Riya told PTI in an interview.
‘Tagged sexy when I was in school’
Riya says she was being tagged sexy in the school, adding that she used to make her feel terrible.
“Getting those tags, it was just terrible, horrible. Living with that… I was in school when the tag of ‘sexy’ started coming way. There was so much pressure to always look perfect, a certain way. Even when I went out, people had this perception that ‘Oh Riya Sen’ because they feel what you’re on screen, you’re the same in real life.”
Riya’s stint in Bengali cinema
The actor has found acclaim in filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh’s 2011 period drama Noukadubi, based on Rabindranath Tagore’s 1906 novel of the same name.
She went on to work in other Bengali films, including Srijit Mukherji’s musical drama Jaatishwar and the romance-action Hero 420 in 2016.
“In Bengali films, I played my version of glamorous, where I played wide-ranging characters. I tapped into my potential in Bengali films, which I don’t think directors in Bollywood were able to understand. I played what they wanted. Today, I know what I can bring to the table.”