Spunky Raima's turn to rule Bollywood

From Suchitra Sen to Sushmita Sen, Bengali actresses have ruled Hindi cinema for aeons. And maybe now it's Raima Sen's turn. "Bengali is my mother tongue but now I need to build on my career in Mumbai," said Raima who will be doing just a couple of films in Bengali.

The girl certainly has spunk. For the skydiving scene in Reema Kagti's "Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd", Raima refused to use a duplicate.

"A body double was ready to step in. But I had done skydiving before, so I decided to give it a shot. About being in a sari, yes it was scary on the first day. But I soon got a hang of it. It was great fun," Raima told IANS.

Talking about her small role in "Eklavya", she said: "You must have wondered why I did that small role. I can't say no to some people. But I'm learning. In recent months I've said yes only to Aparna Sen's film. Now I'm being cautious.

"I have 'Manorama 6 Feet Under' coming up. I decided to do it only because director Navdeep is a friend. I had done an ad with him six years ago. It's a good role. Again you'd think it's a small role," said Raima, who is now scared of being typecast as a bit player.

Another small role in Mani Shankar's "Mukhbiir" coming up!

"But that was again for a friend. My leading man Sammir Dattani in the film was my first ever hero. We both did a music video together at the age of 17. But love? Naaah, that's not on the cards right now."

Raima was shocked when she was linked with her co-star Kay Kay Menon.

"I was shocked when they wrote that I was involved with Kay Kay. During the shooting of 'Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd', I said Kay Kay was hot. Someone quoted me as saying, 'I wish he was a bachelor.' I wish no such thing! Is there a scarcity of single men that I'd want a married man?

"All these things are very embarrassing. Recently, they made a headline about a relationship with Kunal Kapoor that I had a year ago. What relevance does it have today?"

Despite losing her much-loved puppy recently, she rushed to be with Aparna Sen's actors for the rehearsals of "The Japanese Wife".

"I lost my poor little puppy. He suddenly fell ill. And before we could figure out what it was, we lost him. Now my other two puppies are so lost without the dead one. He was only two-years-old."

The entire family - Raima, sister Riya and mom Moon Moon had flown down to a hospital in Pune.

"My sister is even more devastated. She saw him die in front of her eyes. I had to drive back from Pune at 1 a.m. to be in Mumbai in time for my workshop with Aparna and Rahul Bose the next morning. I had to. I can't let the project down when so much trust has been placed on me."

Raima and her sister Riya stay together in Mumbai.

"She's just done a Limca ad in Cape Town. We're different entities yet very similar. We look after each other. We're more friends than sisters. But we lead very independent lives, though we do hang out together.

"Riya is a very strong but soft girl. People mistake her shyness for an attitude problem. But she is more emotional and caring than I am. It'd be interesting to do a film together."

By Subhash K. Jha, Indo-Asian News Service