Sushmita Sen’s elder daughter Renee Sen is all set to make her Bollywood debut in the film Suttabaazi. In an exclusive video interview, the young debutante spoke about her enigmatic mom, her aspiration to star in a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film, her competitors, social media attention and the fact that Sushmita not only taught Chemistry in Main Hoon Na but taught her as well in school from Std VII to Std X.
Talking about Sushmita’s achievements and the comparisons that will eventually come her way, Renee said, “Whatever she has achieved in life, her shoes are too big for me to fill. I don’t want to clone her so I don’t even want to make an attempt at it. I want to create my own path and take on my own journey. We are two different people.” Renee shared some pearls of advice from Sushmita. She said, “Be honest, stay grounded, do not let success get to your head and study. She is very particular about me completing my education.”
When Renee was asked about her favourite role of Sushmita’s, she named the diva’s Chemistry teacher avatar in Main Hoon Na. She also said that hypothetically she would have loved to make her debut with her mother’s role in Aarya. Talking about Sushmita’s roles, she said, “I loved Aarya but as a movie I love Main Hoon Na.” Renee made another revelation saying that Sushmita taught her all her school subjects. “She used to teach me Chemistry in 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th. I used to go to her with all my subjects and she used to teach.” This makes Sushmita not only the most loved quintessential teacher in Bollywood but one in real life as well.
When asked about whom she would like to be paired with in Bollywood, Renee left the choice to her directors. However, she said that she is dying to work with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. She said, “His movies are beautiful. Even a tree, even a leaf flying in his movies are beautiful, he makes it look like poetry, like violins are playing. A Banyan tree looks ‘wow’ in his frame. But before I embark on this aspiration, I have to fix my acting more to request him to please look at my work and cast me. So there is time.”
During the course of the interview, Renee was asked about the new generation of actresses like Sara Ali Khan, Ananya Panday, Janhvi Kapoor and others and whether she takes them as her competitors. To this Renee said, “I take them as inspirations and not competitors. It’s not easy being here. Getting up every morning with the same amount of dedication, same spirit, smiling in front of the camera no matter what might be going on in their personal lives. I admire all of them; they have so much love for what they are doing. I would love to work with them they are all so gifted and so talented.” The young debutante also spoke about being open to working on OTT as well as films, the only criteria being that she gets it on her own merit and she does it well.
(Transcribed By: Vandana Srivastawa)