Nandana Sen unplugged

 Nandana Sen was last seen in Forest, directed by Ashwin Kumar. She has since married a publisher and moved to the United States. The daughter of Amartya Sen and Nabanita Dev Sen is an intelligent actress, activist and author. Her long-delayed film Rang Rasiya is finally releasing. She talks about the movie and the important relationships in her life.

Family first 

My family has always been cautiously supportive and I completely understand their worries. As I was always an excellent student so everybody assumed that I would be an academician. I was a topper all four years at Harvard in Literature and writing and had gotten into the Ph.D programme.  Yet, I chucked that for a film career. They were still okay when I decided to go to a film school, as they could see me becoming a writer and director, but when I decided to be an actor, they were surprised and worried as I literally showed up in Mumbai with a backpack not knowing any one here. Of course, now they are extremely supportive and proud of my work and visit festivals around the world with me. But all the big decisions that I have made in my life often did not make sense to anyone else, but to me. But I am glad that they have never proved me wrong. 

On Rang Rasiya

It was not an easy decision at all. I have always been fascinated by Raja Ravi Varma's work from when I was young. One of the reasons I have loved Ketan's work, be it Mirch Masala or Maya Memsaab is because his films are about women empowerment. And this film in particular, makes such a powerful statement of how vulnerable women are in society and yet how incredibly strong they can be. Also for the fact that the film stands for democratisation of Gods, for equal rights for men and women, how critical it is for us to protect freedom of expression. The film also touches upon the issue of religious intolerance. All this drew me to the film. Why would I pass on the chance to play Sugandha, an archetypal Indian woman who was also a trendsetter of her time? 

Nudity in the film 

Much as I wanted to do the film, it was not an easy decision for me. I had to let it sit with me and imagine what it would be like to see myself on screen and I did ask myself that and asked all the people I cared about - my parents, my boyfriend with whom I was living in at that time (Madhu Mantena, who is still my best friend). It was important for me to know how they would feel. But by the time I decided to do the film, I had managed to conquer my feelings about it and Ketan was extremely sensitive about all my trepidation and made me very comfortable. I feel strongly about women's bodies getting objectified on screen and so, the key question we asked ourselves many times was whether or not nudity was essential to the film. And it was. 

On hubby John

He too is very nerdy and likes poetry just like me. While on the one hand, he is a serious person, there is also a wonderful child like silliness about him, which leads him to write cute poems about me or making up stories when I can't fall asleep. We have a really playful relationship. I love the fact that we never run out of things to say to each other and we have both embraced not only each other, but also each other's families with a lot of love.