Actress Riya Sen recently opened up about how being sexualized at the age of 16 really affected her. The actress had debuted with Falguni Pathak‘s famous dance number Yaad Piya Ki Aane Lagi at sixteen and went on to do films after. 1999 Tamil film Taj Mahal was her first stint on the big screen. The actress is from a family of performers her grandmother Suchitra Sen, mother Moonmoon Sen, and sister Raima Sen are all actresses. She later went on to star in Hindi films like Style, Jhankaar Beats, Silsiilay, and many more. The actress opened up to PTI about how her initial hits at the box office used to make her very happy, but later on, people started labelling her as ‘sexy’ and ‘bold.’ This made her feel terrible.
Talking about the same she said:
I realised some of the films I did, after a few hits that I had, they weren’t working for me because I wasn’t comfortable in the roles I was playing. That’s why probably people thought I was a bad actress and I don’t blame them. At that point when I did a lot of Bollywood movies, it was about being sexy, the clothes that you wear, the makeup that you do. I didn’t fit into that.
She further added:
Getting those tags, it was just terrible, horrible. Living with that… I was in school when the tag of ‘sexy’ started coming way. There was so much pressure to always look perfect, a certain way. Even when I went out, people had this perception that Oh Riya Sen because they feel what you’re on screen, you’re the same in real life. I found myself very uneasy, very uncomfortable. It wasn’t me. I couldn’t go on set everyday, get my hair curled for hours and sit with all that make-up. It just didn’t do it for me. I took a conscious decision to stop working in Bollywood movies at that time.
While she may have quit acting in Hindi films, she continued to work in Bengali films. She is currently a part of MX Player’s new web show called Pati, Patni Aur Woh.