RAIMA SEN tells JYOTHI VENKATESH that she dreams of a Man with a sense of humor like her father, who will stride up to her on a white horse. Raima Sen is happy that at last she has been able to come up with a film in which she is the solo heroine.
“I am glad I got an opportunity to act in Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye because it is for the first time that I have played the solo leading lady in a film. I was the only leading lady of C Kkompany but then frankly speaking I do not think I had anything tangible to do as an actress in that film”
Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye is not a sleazy movie revolving around a frustrated house-wife. It is a movie about dreams. When the offer came to me, I grabbed it because it has been culled from the real life of Madhureeta Anand who has directed the movie and I was confident that a woman director would not make it sleazy”, she states as a matter of fact when I ask her whether she had second thought about taking up a film like Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye.
“I had absolutely no reservation about playing the role of a married woman with a child”, she replies. And adds, “Playing the role of Maya was a difficult journey for me, though at the same time I’d confess that the part was not difficult for me because I have already played the widowed mother of a eight year old in Aparna Sen’s film Japanese Wife. You do not get to play roles like that of Maya who fantasizes about her dream Man”.
Contrary to the general notion that her role in Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye has negative shades or connotations to it, Raima asserts that it is not a negative role at all. “Maya does not cheat on her husband, because it is her alter ego which figures in her fantasies with Jai, played by Randeep Hooda, who appears in her dreams. It is strange but true that women can accept a husband who is having an affair but do not take kindly to a woman who is having an affair, with a person who is not her husband”.
Raima does not hesitate to admit that she was quite disappointed when C Company, in which Tushhar Kapoor as her leading man tanked at the box office. “I have no regrets at all because I feel that you learn from every mistake that you commit in life and it is only human to think that at that point of time you think that it was the best”.
Playing the role of Maya was not a cake walk for Raima as an actress. “It was real hard work. I do not think I have struggled as hard as I did for this film for any other character of mine till date. Though I did not necessarily have to do any home work to get into the skin of the character, I did learn a lot from Madhureeta about how a woman who is thrown in a similar situation would react, since she has gone through half the scenes in the film in her real life”.
To get into the skin of character of the frustrated housewife who is not able to realize her dream of becoming a singer, Raima says that she had to learn how to play the harmonium in the film. “I did not bother to train in music because in any case, I am a very bad singer, even when I sing in the bathroom”.
Raima feels that every woman will be able to relate with her character in the film because every woman has a fantasy man in her life and hence when she watches the film, she will be able to identify with the character of Maya that she is playing in the film.”You just cannot hide against a mask and say that it is something which is unacceptable in society today”, Raima adds as a matter of fact.
Among the films which she has up her sleeves now are Teen Patti directed by Leena with R. Madhavan as her leading man, Mirchi directed by Vinay Shukla with Shahana Goswami, Konkona Sen Sharma etc , Japanese Wife directed by Aparna Sen and Nauka Doobi directed by Rituparno Ghosh in which she is acting with her sister Riya for the first time, and also his Sunglass in which hers is a baby guest appearance since the film belongs out and out to Konkana.
Though she does not fantasize about her Man in real life like Maya in Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye, she confesses that her dream is to have a Man in her life who is a lot like her father. “My father gave my mum a lot of space and allowed her to be liberated and free spirited and encouraged her to work even after marriage. My father has a terrific sense of humor. I have inherited my sense of humor from my father. I also look for a man with a sense of humor and loyalty. In real life, I do not at all fantasize about a dream man, because I only dream about my ideal man. I often dream about a man coming towards me in a white horse, who is in search of me”.
