Rii Sen

Early career

Sen started her career in 2003 as a model. She also acted in few television series and short films.

2009—2011

Sen acted in Tepantorer Mathe which was her debut feature film, but it was not released. In 2009 Sen worked in a documentary, Love in India, directed by Qaushiq Mukherjee. The subject of the documentary was dehotatwa (worshiping through one's body). In the same year she acted in another documentary, Many Stories of Love and Hate, directed by Shyamal Karmakar. The documentary was screened at the Mumbai International Film Festival in 2010.

In 2009 she acted in Bissh, directed by Qaushiq Mukherjee. In this film Rii played the character Anushka, a college student. According to Rii, this was a very complex role and playing the character was very tough for her. She said in an interview— "I play Bee in Bishh... Bee is not a simple, straightforward girl. She is complicated, confused yet confident. Maybe that's why she is called Bee. I almost lost my identity while getting into the skin of the character." In this film she worked as a costume designer too.

In the 2010 film Gandu, Sen played a lead role. For the character, Sen was required to portray frontal nudity. Qaushiq Mukherjee, the director of the film, said in an interview that he cast Rii because she was the only heroine (of Bengali film industry) who could have played this role. IBNLive appreciated the work of Rii and wrote in their review— "All the characters have put in their best efforts. Both Komolika and Rii have exuberated confidence in all the sex scenes, showing their maturity as actresses." In the 2010 film Autograph, directed by Srijit Mukherji, Sen played a minor role.

2011—present

Sen acted in 2012 film Koyekti Meyer Golpo, directed by Subrata Sen. In this film she played the character of the wife of a don. She also acted in the Bengali film Cosmic Sex, directed by Amitabh Chakraborty. The story of the film revolves around a young man's sexual self-discovery. Kripa, the young man, meets a prostitute, a eunuch and a female ascetic named Sadhana during his journey. The film was screened at Osian's film festival and got a warm reception.

Sen appeared as horotoni in 2013 film Tasher Desh, directed by Q aka Qaushiq Mukherjee. The film has been described as "trippy adaptation" of the Rabindrath Tagore's namesake play by Indian medias.

According to a newspaper report published in The Times of India in May 2013, Sen is acting in debutant director Anirban Mukherjee's Byanka Prithibi. In this film she is playing the character of a housewife. In 2014 it was announced that Rii would appear in Q (Quashiq Mukherjee) and Nikon’s upcoming movie ‘LUDO’, playing a role not previously seen on Indian screens.

Sen as an actress of alternative cinema

Sen is regarded as a prominent actress of alternative Bengali cinema. In an article of Mint, the performances of Sen was described as– "the common link between a set of films that has been challenging the norms of acceptability and decorum in the past few years." According to Sen, sexuality is a cult for her. She also told— she wants to push her sexuality in cinema "to the borderline where it becomes extreme and dangerous".

Sen was shot for frontal nudity scenes in Qaushik Mukherjee's Gandu and Amitabh Chakraborty's Cosmic Sex. Though Paoli Dam is generally credited as the first Bengali actress to shoot full nude scenes, according to a report of The Times of India, Sen went for frontal nudity scene six months before Dam's work. Sen told she was happy that she could use her body for "a great cinematic purpose". She also told— "As an artiste, I feel, it's important to record the passing time through one's work. And I don't want my work to be seen as gimmick of any sort."

Filmography

     Pink indicates "unreleased films";      light green indicates "documentary film"

Awards

In 2012, Sen won a best actress award at Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema for her movie Cosmic Sex.