Helicopter Eela was an offer Riddhi couldn’t refuse

Actor Riddhi Sen is all of 20, yet he won a National Award for Best Actor this year, making him the youngest to get the honour ever! His upcoming release is Helicopter Eela, in which he plays one of the lead roles, with actor Kajol playing the role of his mother.

It wasn’t as if he had to audition to land the film — he was the sole choice for director Pradeep Sarkar, right from the beginning. “It was an offer you can’t refuse. Dada (as Sarkar is popularly called by friends and family) called me. He said he’s making a movie, three years after Mardaani (2014), produced by Ajay (Devgn) sir, and they are considering me to play Kajol’s son! I was really lucky, and feel indebted to dada. It was such a huge project, and one usually has to go through a lot of auditions. He directly called me to Mumbai,” says Riddhi, further revealing how the entire process was for him.

He says, “I was waiting in the office, that abhi ek camera aayega, and I will have to audition. Then one of the assistant directors said, ‘Don’t you know, you are already there in the movie?’ And that very evening I met Kajol ma’am.”

How Sarkar shoots his film is different from other filmmakers, and it was a new experience for Riddhi. “The next day (after the meeting), we did what dada calls an audio book. He gets his lead actors and voice artists, and records the entire script. The entire thing is performed... he puts the background music, and rough songs. Basically, it’s to get an idea of the film,” he signs off.

PHOTO: SHIVAM SAXENA/HT Time flies faster when you have a good time, says actor Riddhi Sen about this film, which started in January this year and is now all set to hit theatres