Mumbai, Oct 1 : Youngest actor to win National Award Riddhi Sen says he is lucky to have been offered different projects as he believes it is tough for artistes his age to find interesting roles.
The 20-year-old, who was named Best Actor at 65th National Film Awards this year for Bengali film “Nagarkirtan”, will next be seen in “Helicopter Eela”.
“My age group is little tricky because we are in the middle. We are considered as children, so we can’t be seen much in movies. And it is not anyone’s fault.
“I consider myself to be lucky as the kind of roles I got when I started growing up from the age of 16, has been interesting. But it is tough to find characters for my age,” Riddhi told PTI.
Riddhi, son of Bengali stage and film actor Kaushik Sen and dancer Reshmi Sen, is shuffling between Bengali and Hindi cinema and the actor is happy to have the best of both worlds.
After playing a brother, who takes the responsibility of his elder sister in the wake of 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War in “Children of War”, a Dalit boy in “Chauranga”, a rapist in “Bhoomi” to a transgender in “Nagarkirtan”, Riddhi is now set to play Kajol’s teenage son in “Helicopter Eela”.
He says the length of the character does not matter to him as much as its contribution to the story.
“… If my target is to do seven-eight films a year, it will be a problem. I want to enjoy my work,” he adds.
Riddhi says he has not auditioned much for films and his previous work has served as a portfolio.
“When director Pradeep Sarkar called me one day for a film about a mother-son and that Kajol will be my mother, I thought he was joking. I was thinking ‘why me, when there are better actors than me’. I asked him, if he wants I can audition for the film.
“I did not audition for the film but I did an ad with Dada in 2016 and he liked my work. I was called to Mumbai. I was not aware if I was finalised or not, when I got to know I am part of it, it felt unbelievable.”
“Helicopter Eela” is based on Anand Gandhi’s Gujarati play “Beta, Kaagdo”.
Riddhi says the “biggest crisis” in Indian society is parenting.
“Parenting is the first and last school. It is the foundation. My parents are celebrated people and we discuss everything in the open. They taught me to be independent. I share a beautiful relationship with them,” he says.
The actor plans to pursue filmmaking someday.”Helicopter Eela” releases October 12.(P.T.I)
