‘Delay is disappointing’

Actress Raima Sen, whose film The Japanese Wife released recently, talks about her apprehension regarding delayed releases, Bollywood, her granny, and more

Aparna Sen’s The Japanese Wife has been doing rounds of festivals for sometime, but didn’t have an immediate theatrical release. Does that make you apprehensive?
When I do a film, I’d ideally want it to release immediately. Delay is always disappointing. But then, in case of The Japanese Wife, I was happy it was being shown at festivals, people knew about it. Ideally, a film should never miss its pre-release buzz.

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Any more films that’re stuck?
There’s Meridian and Mumbai Cutting that’re ready but haven’t released. I feel apprehensive about these because they’d have missed the buzz by the time they release.

You have very few dialogues in The Japanese Wife...
Yeah, but the role is pivotal. I have to largely emote during the silences and the pauses. I’m playing a widow who moves into the teacher’s (Rahul Bose) house with her son. Obviously, she’s had unfulfilled desires, given that she became a widow at an early age. She gets close to the teacher, too.

Wasn’t Konkona Sen Sharma supposed to play the same part?
Yeah, but her mother chose me to play it. Later, when she (Konkona) saw the film, she really liked my work.

Do you like being compared to your grandmother Suchitra Sen?
Initially, it’d bug me because everyone would say I look and act like her, which I wasn’t even trying to do. Later, I realised it’s actually a compliment.