Her blockbuster debut film, Chitram, started the present generation of youth films. After a long gap, Reema Sen, who acted in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi movies, will be seen in the Telugu dub version of her hit Tamil movie with Vishal, Pogaru. The dusky beauty, presently in town to promote the movie, talks about her and her film career so far.
Q: Where are you originally from?
A: I was born and brought up Kolkota. But my Family is presently residing in Mumbai. My father is a businessman and I have a younger sister. She is thirteen years old.
Q: How did Chitram happen?
A: Actually before I even met Teja, the lead actress for Chitram was already selected. But he was not happy with the choice. Someone suggested my name to Teja when he came to Mumbai. I had just then signed a Tamil movie. After listening to his narration I decided to return the cheque, the Tamil producers had given me. I was so impressed by Teja’s narration that I decided to do the movie even though Teja told me that he could not give me more than 11,000 as my remuneration. That is how Chitram happened.
Q: Do you have any formal training in acting?
A: No. I did not train formally in acting. I just concentrate on the scene and give it my best, right from the bottom of my heart.
Q: Have you changed since your debut film?
A: Yes. I become more patient since then. I was a very hyper kind of person before I joined the industry.
Q: It has been quite some time now since you acted in a straight Telugu film. Have you shifted to the Tamil Industry for good?
A: No no. Nothing like that. It is just that after Manasntha Nuvve I have not had a hit in Telugu. But all my eight films in Tamil have been successful. That is why I became busy in the Tamil Industry. That is all. Given a good script and opportunity I would love to do a straight Telugu film.
Q: You debuted almost seven years ago. Did you manage to learn either Telugu or Tamil?
A: I must confess I am very bad with languages. I am not a fast or a good language learner. I am even poor at Hindi.
Q: Why these routine glam roles when you have previously acted in women oriented roles in films like Cheli and Prema Chadarangam?
A: See you cannot compare my character in a woman oriented film to that film which is hero oriented. My first priority is the script. If the script appeals to me then I look into the character I am going to portray. That is how I go about choosing my films.
Q: Tells us about your character in Pogaru.
A: After Prema Chadarangam, Pogaru is my second film with Vishal. I am playing the role of a bubbly happy-go-lucky college student. The character is very close to my heart as it is kind of similar to my real life personality.
Q: What do you think of Vishal as a co actor?
A: Vishal and Vikram (Vishal’s brother) are my good friends. Vishal is a very focused person, he knows what he wants. He is now popular for his action sequences but I think that he is a very graceful dancer. He is one of the tall guys, other than Prabhas, who is very good in dancing. I am very happy that his films are doing so well.
Q: Is it true that Vishal and you are going around?
A: No. We are not going around. We are good friends though.
Q: Sriya Reddy’s character is receiving a lot more attention than yours. Your comments?
A: I was given the choice of portraying two roles in the film and I chose what I did. Negative roles always receive more attention than the positive one. Sriya has given a very good performance and she deserves all the recognition that she is receiving. For me the over all performance of the film matters. I don’t mind if other actors or actresses take the credit so long as the movie works. For that matter I am portraying a negative role in Vallayan and in that film Nayan Tara and Sandhya are portraying the female lead roles other than me.
Q: Vallayan is your next project?
A: Yes. Simbu is directing it.
Q: Is it true that Simbu and you had clashes?
A: Simbu is a perfectionist and a tough master. Our styles of functioning are totally different. He is a child prodigy and
an amazing director. His maturity as a director comes across clearly in Vallayan. I never took more than three takes to perfect a shot but in Vallayan Simbu made me give 16 takes before he was satisfied with the shot. When people say what the other person does not want to hear or just does not fit well with the other person, misunderstandings occur. The same happened with Simbu and me. But that was at the beginning, now every thing is fine and we have sorted out our differences. My respect for Simbu grew tenfold after I saw what he did with Vallayan.
Q: What is your dream role?
A: The kind of psychopath role that is played in Vallayan. It is a split personality kind of character.
Q: What is glamour according to you?
A: For me Glamour is attitude. People call me glamorous, but I have never worn a swim suit or kissed anybody in all of the 25 films that I have done so far. It is my body language that makes people think I am glamorous. But it is true that a heroine’s look is very important in this industry. You can be a good actor without looking good but you cannot be a star if you do not have good looks. An example in case is Urmila Matondkar who survived in the industry for a long time with only Rangeela to her credit.
