Kajol is a huge star but she is extremely approachable: Riddhi
ANational Award at 19 is a big deal for any actor. It was no different for Riddhi Sen when he won the Best Actor Award at the 65th National Awards this year for his performance in the Bengali film, Nagar Kirtan. The transgender love story by Kaushik Ganguly fetched a lot of awards at the National Awards ceremony. Riddhi says it was overwhelming to win the honour but now he needs to move on from that. He is all set to work on his next film, Pradeep Sarkar’s Helicopter Eela.
“It was definitely a big deal to win a National Award. Once I finished work on Nagar Kirtan last November, I forgot all about it. And then, I got a call saying that I had won an award for the Best Actor. It was unbelievable. I am indebted to the jury members, who thought I was worthy of this honour. They have given me the confidence that I am on the right track. But now, to keep up the quality of work, I need to let go of the National Award-winner tag. I am happy but I am looking forward to doing more good work”, says Riddhi, who played a transgender in the film.
While he had no plans for Bollywood, Riddhi is “more than happy with the natural progression”. He says, “I come from a family of actors, and I was happy working in Bengali films and doing theatre. My first movie was Kahaani (2012) but that happened because Sujoy Ghosh wanted m to play th part. Afte Kahaani, was just a chain react Onir decided take me in Chauranga (2014), and then I was selected for Parched (2015) and then Bhoomi (2017). It was very organic. But, I always wanted to work with Dada. When Pradeep Sarkar calls you and says that he wants to work with you, you just say ‘yes’.” On learning that he had to work with Kajol, he was intimidated at first but “her presence” helped him “calm down”. “I was apprehensive to work with her but when she started interacting, I realised that she is normal. She is a huge star but she is extremely approachable,” says Riddhi.
It was definitely a big deal to win a National Award. ... I am indebted to the jury members, who thought I was worthy of this honour. They have given me the confidence that I am on the right track.
RIDDHI SEN, ACTOR