Women's Day: Thespian Reshmi Sen on her acting journey
Thespian and actor Reshmi Sen still regrets not spending her prime years on the stage. A post-graduate in psychology, Sen is a trained classical dancer, too. She, and her husband, Kaushik Sen along with a few other friends, founded the theatre group Swapnasandhani in 1992. But until 2000, she was only doing backstage work.
One of the strongest actors on stage, the audience has seen Sen playing a variety of characters in films, television and OTT. We speak to her about her journey.
Despite being one of the founding members of your group, you made your acting debut late?
In 2000, we staged a play called Mukhomukhi Boshibar by Bratya Basu in which I played the second lead. That was a turning point for me, and people were quite surprised as to why I didn’t act before. But I must say that if I couldn’t justify the fantastic characters that were offered to me, I wouldn’t have been the Reshmi Sen that I am today. I am proud of myself. When I am on stage, I feel that the audience is under my control. I am confident about my acting skills, but yes, I am still learning. I feel that this is how the theatre works — I am still a student.
You work with a lot of young actors. Are they well prepared?
No. In cinemas mainly, there are still directors and actors whose works are learning processes, and they are eager to learn too. But barring those few, most come to act without any training or preparations. Unfortunately, they get more busy with making reels, rather than trying to polish their acting or diction. It’s the fame and money that most are running after.
Do you feel overshadowed by your husband (Kaushik Sen) or son (Riddhi Sen) at times?
Kaushik is fully supportive, more so because he realised how I was suppressed for many years. But I am lucky to have Riddhi. He’s the most supportive son one can ever expect. Still, if you ask me why Kaushik is more popular, he is a director-actor, and they are usually more popular than actors. But if I get up on stage, even with Kaushik around, the audiences will only, and only look at me!
Upcoming projects.
This year we will bring on stage Mahasweta Devi’s Hajar Churashir Maa (Mother of 1084), most probably in May. I will play Sujata, the protagonist, the mother of corpse number 1084. We have just started rehearsing for it.