Riddhi Sen is on a roll. Having played the ‘Cafe Man’ in the Oscar-nominated Lion, which releases on February 24, Riddhi is now shooting for Omung Kumar’s Bhoomi, starring Sanjay Dutt and Aditi Rao Hydari, in Agra. The Calcutta boy plays “a crucial role” in the drama about a father-daughter relationship and has already shot some scenes with Aditi.
“The scenes went off really well... Aditi is a very nice person. We have talked about Parched, the Bengali film industry and Open Tee Bioscope…. It is a privilege to get such a platform to work, it’s a great unit. I consider myself very lucky. They really liked my work in Parched and I got the offer for Bhoomi in mid-January,” Riddhi told t2 on phone from Agra where he’ll be camping for around two months. Omung had previously directed films like Mary Kom and Sarbjit.
The week ahead is specially exciting for the 18-year-old as the Friday release Lion — where he plays the guy who spots a young Saroo on the streets and takes him to a police station to file a missing person report — is up for six Oscars. “Sitting in the cafe, I am having soup and Saroo is replicating the same action with an empty spoon across the road,” said Riddhi. A t2 chat with Riddhi…
You must be really excited about working with Sanjay Dutt in Bhoomi?
Sanjay Dutt has such a magnetic personality, which comes through in his screen presence. There is this steely thing about him, which is really nice. At the same time, he has this innocence in his face. I first saw him in Mission Kashmir.
And how did Lion happen?
I met Lion director Garth Davis at The Lalit Great Eastern on the same day the music launch of Open Tee Bioscope happened, in 2014. I went to meet Garth once the music launch got over. He basically wanted to see how I deal with kids. So he gave us a situation where I played a watchman as the kids tried to get past me. On that day itself I got to know about Lion and its cast. That day itself Garth told me that I was in the film. He sat down with me and told me about the story, the situation, the background of my character. He allowed me to shape my character. By the way, Garth was quite intrigued to spot an Open Tee Bioscope poster with my image on it right opposite the hotel! About two weeks later, I met Sunny Pawar. The Calcutta shoot of Lion happened a few days after the release of Open Tee Bioscope. I shot for two days for Lion, with Sunny and my father (Koushik Sen, who plays a cop) in Calcutta.
How is Sunny in person?
He is an amazing kid... too damn sweet. He is a dynamite of energy, mischievous and sensitive at the same time. He has done a fantastic job.
Will you be watching the Oscars?
Yes, I’ll be watching it in Agra.
Did you imagine all this happening to you at 18?!
My parents have given me complete freedom and always let me choose my scripts and work anywhere I want to. I am looking for strong content. I am really enjoying what I am doing now.
