Renee Sen isn’t running away from her surname: I’ll never take it for granted or allow anyone to do that

Actor Sushmita Sen’s daughter, Renee Sen is aware of the privileges that comes with her name, but she isn’t taking any pressure or else she won’t be able to function.

Choosing a 15-minute-long short film to make her acting debut, Renee Sen, elder daughter of actor Sushmita Sen, wants to impress the audience little by little. Admitting that she’s “well aware of the privileges” attached to her surname, she clears that she isn’t letting the “weight of it” concern her.

Sushmita Sen’s eldest daughter Renee Sen made her Bollywood debut with the short film Suttabaazi.

“I’m not running away from my surname. I know it comes with a lot of responsibility and the love I’m getting is because of my mother, the kind of work she has done. But I’m not taking the pressure or else I won’t be able to do a single day’s job. And, I’ll never take it for granted, nor will I allow anybody else to take it for granted,” says the21-year-old.

While people might think she got an easy launchpad, Renee clarifies her mother didn’t make any calls for her.

“Maa said you want to act, you figure it out. So I’m doing it step-by-step. If it’s easy, would I have valued it enough? I don’t think so. I’m aware of the uncertainties of this profession. Maa tells me to keep grounded, complete my education so that ‘No one can tell you, you’re less than anybody and you don’t make anybody feel like that’. I want to be self made. I’ll approach directors, show Suttabaazi (her short film) and request them to consider me for their projects,” shares the actor, who’s pursuing a double major in psychology and sociology.

Excited how everyone in the family from her mother to uncle Rohman Shawl (Sushmita’s boyfriend; model) and sister Alisah reacted to her debut and gave her encouraging feedback, Renee adds, “Maa is obviously there to guide me. But she wants me to take my own decisions, make mistakes and learn.”

But does being constantly compared to her mother ever bother her? “I find it weird being compared with maa. Her body of work, the life she has led, those shoes are too big to fill,” she admits.

Referring to the nepotism debate, Renee further adds, “When I watched my mother act, it was inspiring, and I wanted to do this even before I knew the word nepotism. We all look up to our parents. Is following your parents’ footstep nepotism? There’s glamour attached to the industry, so people are more interested about how it functions, that’s why there’s a little more attention on showbiz.”

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Author tweets @Shreya_MJ