Nandana Sen Exclusive!

With a Nobel prize winner for a father, Nandana Sen is not your usual Bollywood actress. Even the movies she's done – Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black to name one – are well off the beaten track. From working with UNICEF to doing her own stunts, there's more than meets the eye with Nandana. Read to see why...

Intelligence is something that runs in your family. What was growing up like for you? Were you the geeky kid who ended up being the beautiful swan?

Not sure about the swan bit but geeky kid for sure.  With glasses so thick they were almost opaque, book surgically glued to my hand, limbs in completely uncoordinated with each other.  Not much has changed, except vital statistics…

Why would you choose to be part of Bollywood which doesn't really need an IQ after all that? In fact isn't having an IQ in the Indian glam biz a bit of a disadvantage?

Frequently! (Laughing.)  For many in the biz, it is inexplicable and intimidating.  For some, it’s quaint if utterly unnecessary.  For a handful, it's an asset albeit complicated.  Of course I am generalizing… But from where I stand, I must say that acting wouldn't have been such a draw for me had my parents not been so academic - and had I not been so nerdy and cerebral as a child.  In our family we are so used to working off our intellect that it was quite a revelation for me to see that sometimes intellect is just redundant – instinct matters most.  It was quite an epiphany in fact, and a transformative one, to find this way of expressing myself where I had to rely more on my emotions.

What your kind of man - a cerebral recluse or a dumb party boy?

Geez, ain’t it just like a man to reduce the world into binary opposites? J  My kind of guy is totally fun-loving with a brain as alive as his conscience and his hormones. 

You are associated with a lot of social causes - is it protocol or are you really involved in all of them? 

I’ve never been good at understanding 'protocol'.  I’m often told I need to appreciate and follow what that word entails in the film industry… As for the NGOs I’m associated with, they are an integral part of my life.  I am working with UNICEF as Advocate for child protection and education -  most recently, I spent an unforgettable day in an adolescent girls' empowerment program, Deepshikha - and I’ll be working in the UNICEF campaigns against corporal punishment and for sex education.  I recently completed “Chuppee”, a short feature sponsored by UNIFEM, to raise awareness of child sexual abuse. My work as the Cause Ambassador for RAHI (Recovery and Healing from Incest) started years ago, when I originated the role of the traumatized protagonist of the play they sponsored, “30 Days in September,” at Prithvi. It’s tragic how our society denies the widespread existence of CSA and its disastrous effect on a survivor's sexual identity. 

So you believe child abuse affects a man’s sexual identitiy later in life... how is that possible? 

For male survivors, the biggest hurdle in the way of healing is their reluctance to talk about it. Majority of men are conditioned to identify themselves as aggressive and powerful rather than passive and helpless.  In our culture, a ‘real’ man is expected never to be a ‘victim,’ but to protect himself and deal with it "like a man". He is expected to avenge or forget the hurt and move on, lest he be seen as a “coward.”  Acknowledging that he was sexually abused becomes a major threat to a man's masculinity. (If the man was abused by an older woman as a child, the myth is - he ought to have been sexually eager and willing. In case he was abused by a man, there's concern about being labeled as gay.)  To avoid seeing themselves as victims, men never break the silence; instead, they act out in ways that make it extremely difficult for them to have functional relationships. Some get unhealthily aggressive, some become homophobic, almost all experience great confusion over their sexual identities and orientation… Disastrously, masculinity and power often get confused with abusiveness. 

We fell for you the moment we heard you dig comics as much as we do? Which superhero would you gladly go home with? 

Spidey’s generally been my all-time fave.  A geek who can fly.  Any regular chick’s fantasy, right? :) 

Your next film Prince sees you go from artist’s muse to last action hero. What’s that about? 

Hard core action is great fun.  I play a fearless under-cover cop who shoots straight from the hip, jumps off high rises, leaps through flames on a super-bike and knocks men out with impunity (and kicks, punches, bullets) – in between romancing Vivek Oberoi.  I loved playing Sugandha - Ravi Varma’s ethereal muse and love who was also a fearless trend-setter in her time, the original Indian pin-up girl. But the challenge to play a tough action chick so diametrically opposed to an angelic muse was just too hard to resist! 

You perform all your stunts by yourself? What was the scariest stunt you were asked to do? 

Yes, I did do them myself – but more out of vanity than bravery!  The stunt double selected for me was a jovial, muscular, hirsuite and HUGE man – so for once I let my vanity (which usually takes a backseat) get in the way of my common sense and insisted on doing the stunts myself! Jokes apart, the scariest stunt was the one I was most keen to do, although I was frozen with fear – one in which I jump from skyscraper to skyscraper on a flaming motorbike.  I’ve always been terrified of heights, but instinctively felt that doing this stunt would be a breakthrough for me.  And it was.

Last year, you appeared on Brit TV series Sharpe’s Peril. What was it like working opposite Sean Bean (of LOTR, Troy fame)?

Sean’s much older and truly a guy’s guy, but we got along very well.The sparks were meant to fly between his character and mine, the feisty horse-riding Princess Padmini who refuses to take Sharpe’s authority seriously.  Sean is friendly and sweet, quite a serious guy, an instinctive actor.  Funny too!  Did I mention I have no sense of direction?  Sean came to my rescue when I was hopelessly lost on my way from the makeup van to breakfast - only a few metres - but apparently I was confidently marching toward the horses' feeding area! “I know you’re stubborn as a mule,” he said, “but do you also eat like a horse?”

U2 is another major influence in your life, right? Favourite U2 song please? What other bands do you listen to? 

“One” is my favourite… yes, I’m a sentimental girl. Rabindrasangeet is a huge influence too.  Bands I like - Manu Chao, Radiohead, Coldplay and of course The Stones and Nirvana.  Also – Chandrabindu (Bangla rock,) Alma Magretta (Sicilian rock), Pino Daniele (Napolitan pop/ folk) and Jovanotti (Roman rap).  But more than anything else, I am crazy about vintage jazz – Ella, Billie and Eartha will always be my best gals no matter when, where, and how.

Any specific band when you are... you know.. doing your thing?

Just the music of the spheres.  I like no distractions when I’m doing my thing. 

Maxim Naughty Question: Name one woman you would turn lesbian for? 

Aung San Suu Kyi.   Beautiful and brave beyond belief.  Been madly in love with her for years. 

Would you do the whole lesbian thing for a saucy shoot? 

I was very tempted to, once.  I was asked to play the lead opposite Tim Robbins, one of my favorite actors, in a New York indie film, “Noise.”   It had a raunchy three-some including him and a sexy Russian diva.   I thought about it a lot but just couldn’t get sufficiently hot and bothered about it.  Sorry to be a bore, guys…Now if it had been Tim and his wife Sue (as in Sarandon, super lady and incredible actress), I might have had another think! 

Rate these professions in terms of manliness; Maxim journalist, rock star, policeman, fireman, mechanic, builder, chef and politician. 

Are you kidding?  And how do you define ‘manly’ anyway?  Rock stars are clichés.  Policemen are frequently brutal and politicians, delusional.  Ironically, a chef’s disadvantage is that I love to eat - so his craft would always intrigue me more than his manhood (unless he cooks naked). Firemen are brave by profession, true – but isn’t that because they are connected to their feminine, protective, self-sacrificing selves? As for mechanics and builders, it would depend entirely on what tunes they wolf-whistle as I pass (the biggest stereotype ever but seriously, I’m sure I speak for the female species when I say I’ve not encountered a single exception till date).  As in, a Celine Dion whistle would just not do it for me, ya know?  Maxim journalist… Now let me see.  Only if they sport a pony-tail and leopard-print thongs.