Reemma Sen is back. She may have lost out to her Bengali contemporaries — Bipasha Basu, Rimii Sen, Koena Mitra and Raima Sen — in cementing her place in Bollywood but she doesn’t seem perturbed.
Her last Bollywood release was Jodi Kya Banaye Wah Wah Ramji in November 2003, after which she was spotted doing an item act in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Aan. She returns to the screen as a village girl in Priyadrashan’s Malamaal Weekly that releases this Friday. The film also stars Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Riteish Deshmukh and Rajpal Yadav. The girl, who also played Rajlakshmi in Anjan Das’ Iti Srikanto, chats with HT City.
Where have you been for so long?
I was doing films in the south. There was too much skin show in Bollywood and the roles I was offered were not in the kind that I wanted to do. My last Hindi release was Aan, where I did an item act. There was some exposure in the Jugnoo ki payal song but I did it because it was the Firoz Nadiadwala’s banner. My films didn’t click either. Had it been so, I would have been doing more Hindi films.
Malamaal Weekly is your first film with Priyadarshan…
Yes it is. It was an absolute delight working with him. He is a producer’s director and unlike most, understands the economy. He is extremely considerate towards his actors. My mother was not well while I was shooting at a village, two hours from Madurai. We shot the film in one go in 45 days. I wanted to meet my mother but that would have taken at least two days. Priyadarshan allowed me that break.
What is your role in the film? Do you have enough footage in a film with so many powerful actors?
I am Riteish’s love interest. Rajpal Yadav wants to get married to me and tries to play spoilsport. The film is a comedy but there is a serious twist. The best part is that everything is woven so perfectly into the script.
What is your role in the film? Do you have enough footage in a film with so many powerful actors?
I am Riteish’s love interest. Rajpal Yadav wants to get married to me and tries to play spoilsport. The film is a comedy but there is a serious twist. The best part is that everything is woven so perfectly into the script.
Was playing a village girl difficult?
Yes, it was. The film has been made with an effort to be authentic. It has a rustic look and not a single sequence was shot inside a studio. We used to shoot after 9 am at a temperature of around 40-45 degree Celsius. And that was because the film starts with very depressed villagers and the hot temperature was just the kind of ambience Priyadrashan was looking for.
The film is also about lottery. Are you a lottery freak?
No not all. I am a very paranoid kind of a person. I want to play safe.
What next?
Nothing in Bollywood. I have two Tamil films coming up. I want to do clean and entertaining films.