Nandana Sen on the sets of Kaler Rakhal in Santiniketan. Picture by Aranya Sen

She may divide her time between Mumbai and New York, but Nandana Sen feels most at home in Santiniketan. Curling up in a divan at Pratichi, her Nobel-winning father Amartya Sen’s house in Santiniketan, the doe-eyed actress talks about life after Black, playing a sensuous devdasi for Ketan Mehta and her first Bengali film Kaler Rakhal...

Why did you take so long to do a Bengali film?

I was always very sad that I hadn’t done a Bengali film as it’s the language closest to me — the language that I think, dream, fight and sing in. But I never got the right film until now. The opportunities I had were not exciting enough and I didn’t get a chance to work with the directors I’d admired since childhood — Tapan Sinha, Tarun Majumdar, Mrinal Sen, Aparna Sen. Of course, I’ve always been crazy about Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak.... How come I’m so fluent in Bangla culture? My parents always spoke to me in Bangla. I grew up reading all of Bangla literature — Rabindranath, Bankim, Sarat Chandra, Bibhuti Bhushan, Tarashankar, Jibanananda, Ashapurna Debi, Sukanta, Bishnu Dey, Aparajita Debi (a pen name of my grandmother Radharani Debi), Sunilmama (Sunil Gangopadhyay), my mother (Nabanita Dev Sen), Mahasweta Devi and many others who had a huge influence in contributing to Bengali being my first language.

What made you take up Kaler Rakhal?

I’ve loved Sekharda’s (Sekhar Das) work ever since I saw Mehulbonir Sereng. Sekharda and I met for the first time just after he saw Black and he told me he had a film in mind with a character he said he was writing especially for me. As the story was developing we stayed in touch and I totally fell in love with the script. I’m a huge believer in Sekharda’s way of storytelling, in his artistic ideology. I can’t tell you how much I’m enjoying working with him on Kaler Rakhal.... He has a unique aesthetic vision and a socio-political consciousness, two things that have always drawn me to a certain kind of cinema. The films I tend to choose have some elements of both.

Was working with Soumitra Chatterjee an incentive?

I didn’t need any additional incentive and actually, when I decided to do the film I had no idea he was going to be in it! Yes, I was thrilled beyond words when I found out. It’s terrific being able to share screen time with my one and only childhood crush — Feluda! He has an even greater effect on my heart now!

What do you play in Kaler Rakhal?

I play Aparna Basu, a non-resident Bengali who comes down to shoot a documentary on bohurupis as part of a TV crew from Germany. She embodies that combination of a socio-political conscience along with an unadulterated love of life that draws me to Sekharda’s work. She loves to laugh, sing, walk barefoot and collect wild flowers. Yet, she is painfully aware of how globalisation and political corruption are spoiling all that she believes in and holds dear. She goes through heartbreaking tests, yet after losing a great deal she never loses hope.

Ketan Mehta’s Rang Rasiya is a big film for you...

Rang Rasiya premieres in London on October 26. It’s very close to my heart because it’s about the censorship of art. It’s a true story about the painter Raja Ravi Varma and his love for his muse, Sugandha, a devdasi. Randeep Hooda plays Ravi Varma. On the one hand it’s a timeless love story, on the other it’s a very timely political drama about moral policing of art.

And you play the devdasi...

Yes, Sugandha, a 19th century devdasi who is trained to give pleasure but has always been denied pleasure herself. Meeting Ravi Varma changes her life completely. Greatly admired for her beauty, Sugandha is touched by a true understanding of beauty and love for the first time when she falls in love with the painter. She’s the ultimate child woman who is impetuous yet enchanting, passionate yet innocent, generous yet possessive...

Why did you vanish after Black?

After Black every filmmaker wanted me to be the heroine’s little sister (laughs)! Again, I had choices but not the kind I wanted. I wouldn’t be right for every kind of Hindi film, and vice versa. So of the choices I have, I select films that I know I’ll have fun doing and learn something from. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s American, Bengali, Italian, or Telugu! I’ve never played it safe — as a result, I get offered all kinds of films, shot all over the world.

Do you do foreign films because you love travelling?

It’s really my love of cinema — international cinema, in particular. But since I’ve lived and worked in three different continents, travel is not something that novel at this point. It can be rather fatiguing and I’d rather be home. But yes, one of the reasons why I’m an actor is because I get to own and create entirely different lives, in every role I get to make an emotional journey that I as Nandana wouldn’t get a chance to live through. Outside India I’m cast in parts that are either very “serious” or super exotic, starting from an 18th century princess to a Sicilian seductress, from a righteous law student to a Pakistani pacifist, a Brazilian druglord’s moll or a sexy Mexican au pair!

Are you doing any other Hindi film?

Yes, a few I have to finish and a few more to start. For 83 days I was in South Africa shooting for a hard-core action film for TIPS (tentatively titled Prince). I still have quite a bit of work to finish, but I can’t tell you what a blast action is! For the first time I am shooting this kind of cutting-edge action — jumping through flames, leaping roof-to-roof on a motorbike, knocking men out with my kicks, punches and bullets — and romancing Viveik Oberoi in between!

I am also shooting for a political satire called Zindabad, written and produced by Anubhav Sinha. It’s about how the government can collapse or revive in one day depending on business transactions between parties, and how the media is complicit in the corruption. I play a young idealistic journalist who believes she can change the world. It’s her coming of age in one day. And in a few weeks, I start an intensely funny, wonderfully human romantic comedy called Season’s Greetings. It’s a UTV film in which I play a good girl with an irrepressibly wild side. This film will take me back to Cape Town! This will be the third film I’ll be shooting there. Last year, I was there shooting a haunting British period romance called The World Unseen. My Ma came with me on that trip, which made it simply fantastic. And I’ve already shot for Prince there earlier this year. But it’s a gorgeous city with great people, jazz and wine. So, no complaints!