Picture by Amit Roy

Coming to Britain for the first time in four years, Raima Sen recently had a couple of hectic days in London. One day she went shopping (for fashionable jeans I think), enjoyed a quick ginger ale in a pub and had a light Italian supper in a branch of Carluccio’s, just off Oxford Street.

On the previous day, she acted as the face of Bengali cinema when her movie 22shey Srabon, a thriller directed by Srijit Mukherji, closed the London Indian Film Festival (LIFF). She had a second film in the festival, Abosheshey, made by first-time director Aditi Roy, which hasn’t been released in India yet. The cast includes Roopa Ganguly.

“I think Bengal is going through a golden period,” said Raima, during the post-screening question-and-answer session with Sangeeta Datta, herself a director and writer on the role of women in Indian cinema.

Taking a breather on Bond Street

The idea behind the LIFF, which is in its third year, is to bring the best of non-Bollywood regional cinema to London. The festival is the baby of its creative and executive director, Cary Rajinder Sawhney, who does seem to have a soft spot for Bengali films.

Happily, Raima shows signs of becoming a persuasive spokeswoman for Bengali cinema. She told the audience gathered in Cineworld Haymarket: “In the middle (period) there was a lull when there was nothing happening. Now there is more awareness and more money and the films are doing exceptionally well — they are released not only in Bengal but nationally and at all these international festivals. So right now it is a great time for Bengal.”

As someone who’s worked in Bollywood as well, Raima could make the comparison: “In Bengal women are given a lot of priority — films are women-oriented unlike Bollywood, so great new directors, like Srijit (Mukherji), are coming up and there is lots for us to do in Bengal.”

NOT JUST AN EXQUISITELY PRETTY FACE

Chances are if Raima lived for even part of the year in London, she would probably have been offered roles in high-profile global ventures by now. To most non-Bengalis, she remains just a pretty face (actually, an exquisitely pretty face) since they are not familiar with her performance in, say, Rituparno Ghosh’s Chokher Bali (2003).

Rickshaws are being pushed out of Calcutta only to appear in environmentally cleaner London — Raima hops onto one

But the man who selected the entries for the LIFF — its programmer, Naman Ramachandran — has a high opinion of Raima’s acting ability. “I’ve been following Raima’s career right from Moyna (2000) and I think she hit the ground running right from the word go,” he remarked. “She was instinctively a good actress and with each performance has added nuance, thus giving her the potential to be a great one. In almost every Bengali film she’s been in, she’s been the still, calm centre and that’s a terrific gift to have while being able to turn on passion and emotion at will.”

Outside the Cineworld Haymarket where 22shey Srabon closed the London Indian Film Festival

A quick bite at Carluccio’s

However, directors such as Woody Allen or Danny Boyle are unlikely to consider Raima — as they have done with Freida Pinto — unless Bengali cinema develops more of a global footprint.

“Are you poised now for some international work?” someone asked her at the Q&A. “I would love to,” sighed Raima wistfully.

“It should have happened years ago,” commented Sangeeta, who has seen Raima grow up. “You really have to get out of that comfort zone,” she affectionately scolded Raima, who made her debut as a college girl of 18 in The Godmother, starring Shabana Azmi, in 1999.

But Raima is thinking of spending even more time in Calcutta because she is getting better offers from Bengali cinema than she is from Bollywood.

Some in the audience in the Cineworld Haymarket probably were not even aware of what Sangeeta called Raima’s “gharana” — that she and Riya are the daughters of actress Moon Moon Sen who is the daughter of the legendary Suchitra Sen.

Most people in Calcutta have learnt to respect Suchitra Sen’s Garbo-like desire for privacy. Neither she nor her family appreciated snatched pictures and video taken of her when she was in hospital. Despite her frail health and unwillingness to go for walks, Suchitra Sen, now 81, is said to be mentally alert and takes a close interest in Raima’s films. Sometimes (rather like Bradman and Sachin) she will see a scene which will remind her of her own days in cinema. And Raima, in turn, has made herself familiar with her grandmother’s impressive body of work.

Is Raima the new Suchitra Sen?

Time for a drink in a pub after shopping

Bengal’s glamour girl in front of an Olympics ad featuring British glamour girl Jessica Ennis

“No,” said Raima firmly.

Raima’s acting, according to Sangeeta, “is instinctive and she has also done a lot of homework on her grandmother’s films”.

But Raima could not be compared to Suchitra Sen, she said. “(It’s) much too early to say she is the new Suchitra Sen — and that may never be possible simply because Suchitra Sen came at a time when the Bengali industry was very strong; it was very literary-oriented. There were wonderful scripts which the female actors carried on their own. Raima has not had the sort of roles her grandmother had and neither has she been able to create that sort of romantic pairing — the Suchitra-Uttam golden years, you see, those iconic images.”

Is Raima as good an actress?

“She (Raima) is still very young and I think there is a lot in her which is untapped,” said Sangeeta. “If you see her in Noukadubi (2011), you are beginning to see a more mature Raima.”

Sangeeta remembers being impressed that Raima was not intimidated by Aishwarya Rai’s arrival in Calcutta for Chokher Bali. “She was a kid pitted against Aishwarya Rai, the big star from Bombay — I think she held her own very well.”

Raima has a film coming out — Maach Mishti ‘’ More — “where all of us have spoken 80 per cent in English”. Also due for release is a Bollywood venture I Me Aur Main, with John Abraham. Rituparno Ghosh has cast her as Kadambari in the feature film version of the life of Tagore. According to Sangeeta, Tollywood has “lots of Bengali beauties” but when it comes to choosing the stereotypical Bengali beauty in 19th century or early 20th century costume and jewellery, there is no one like Raima.

“They just offered me a remake of Deep Jwele Jai (Suchitra Sen, 1959) — and I said no to it,” confided Raima. “I said I am not going to do it because the expectation would be too much. That film is such a popular film, it’s shown on TV. If I do it there would be a lot of criticism, so I refused to do that film.”

However, she has agreed to do a remake of Chandranath (directed by Kartick Chattopadhyay, 1957) “because there is no print”, she added.

There may well come a time when Raima will be picturised against as sensuous a song as Ei raat tomar amar but that is not now. For the time being, she is perfect as an ambassador for Bengali cinema.

Which remake of Suchitra Sen’s movies should Raima star in? Tell t2@abp.in