Rimi Sen, born September 21, 1981 in Kolkata, India, is an Indian actress working in the
Bollywood film industry. In an interview with journalist Vickey Lalwani, Sen revealed that she does not use her real name, Shoumitra Sen, "because it is so unusual."
Sen moved to Mumbai to first become a film actress. She was noticed when she auditioned for a Coca-Cola advertisement, impressing Priyadarshan, the director of the ad. Priyadarshan cast her in his hit film Hungama, establishing her in
Bollywood.
She then played Amitabh Bachchan's and Hema Malini's granddaughter in the hit film Baghban. Her next big hit was the Yashraj produced Dhoom. Her next releases Phir Hera Pheri and Golmaal have been successful at the box office. Her latest release Dhoom 2, released on November 24, 2006, is another big hit, though she has very little presence in the film.
Rimi is now going by the screen name Rimii. She explains the name change as a career move: there are many other Sens working in Bollywood right now, and a single name may help her stand out from the crowd and stay apart from others.
Glamsham.com interviewed Sen in July 2006 about her work in the movie Golmaal. In the interview Sen said, "I play a sweet and beautiful girl in the film. The best thing that I like about the film is that though it has four heroes, I am the only heroine. Rohit Shetty is amazing as a director. He can make even a black African look pretty."
Ligali, an African British group, condemned her statements and said it showed "how normalized anti-African ideology is within Bollywood and its audiences. It would be unlikely that her racist comments will hinder her career or that of the journalist and media organisation that published this anti-African statement."
Jaspreet Pandohar, Bollywood film critic for BBC Movies Online, said that Sen's comments were "shameful but not entirely surprising. It not only reflects her ignorance of other cultures and belief that black people can’t be naturally beautiful, but also illustrates India and Bollywood’s long-running obsession with fair skin. The sad thing is Rimi probably doesn’t even realise her comments can be construed as offensive and maybe sometimes even racist . It would be practically unheard of a British actor making these kinds of racist comments in the open and to the media. She's currently still in Indian Cinema."
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