Riddhi Sen On Best Actor National Award: 'Made No Effort To Win'

New Delhi: The National Awards were announced on Friday, which means actor Riddhi Sen, who will celebrate his 20th birthday soon, had massive reasons to celebrate. Riddhi Sen, son of Bengali actor Kaushik Sen and dancer Reshmi Sen, won Best Actor for his performance as a transgender character in Nagar Kirtan. When asked about his big win, this is what Riddhi told IANS: "I don't know if I am really the youngest. But I must be the happiest.I made no effort to win it. The honour has come to me on its own. I therefore feel happy about it. I was shooting for a film when I was informed that I had won a National award. So I celebrated in the best way possible, by working."

Directed by Kaushik Ganguly, Nagar Kirtan is the love story of a transgender couple, played by Ritwick Chakraborty and Riddhi Sen. About portraying his character in the movie, Riddhi said that his mother was a major inspiration: "I studied the mannerisms and graces of my mother , who is my greatest influence, and my girlfriend. I imbibed their personality and made sure I didn't mimic them. I never thought of the impact that the character would make or that I'd win a National award for it. One doesn't do a role after assessing its influence. One does it because it's there waiting to be brought alive,"

He added that he was introduced to the world of acting at a very early age of 11, courtesy his father and that his mother was also instrumental in his career as an actor: "I was doing theatre in my father's theatre group (Swapanasandhani) from long before that. I've known no other than life. My mother always taught me that work hard is the only means to achieving one's ambitions. Acting is all I've known from my childhood," he told IANS.

When asked about his plans to join mainstream Bollywood, Riddhi said that "significant films" is all that matters to him: "I've done parts in Sujoy Ghosh's Kahaani, Omung Kumar's Bhoomi and most importantly in Leena Yadav's Parched where I played Tannishta Chatterjee's wayward sexist son. These were not large parts in terms of the footage. But my mother has always taught me to look at the larger picture. Being in important significant films is more important to me than counting the number of scenes and shots I have."

Riddhi Sen's Nagar Kirtan won four National Award honours. Apart from the Best Actor prize, it also fetched wins in the Best Make-Up Artiste and Best Costume categories. Nagar Kirtan also scored a Special Jury Award at the National Film Awards.

The National Awards ceremony will be held on May 3.

(With IANS inputs)