Personal life and family
Riya Sen is the grand daughter of Suchitra Sen, a legend in Bengali cinema, and daughter of Moonmoon Sen, a former actress. Before moving to Mumbai, she lived with her parents and sister Raima Sen, also an actress, in Kolkata. Her father Bharat Dev Varma belongs to the illustrious royal family of Tripura. Her paternal grandmother Ila Devi, was the princess of Cooch Behar, whose younger sister Gayatri Devi is the Maharani of Jaipur.
Before entering show business, she studied at Loreto House and Rani Birla College, both in Kolkata, but dropped out of both institutions. She also briefly studied at the National Institute of Fashion Technology. She also is trained in Kathak and kickboxing. Since her Bollywood debut, she has moved from Kolkata to Juhu in Mumbai. Many have commented on the strong resemblance between her and her mother, Moonmoon Sen, a sex symbol in her time. However, her sister Raima has a very different image from them both.
Acting
Riya Sen first appeared as a child artiste in the film Vishkanya, where she played the role of the young Pooja Bedi. At the age of 15 she was cast in a major role in Bharathiraaja's Tamil film Tajmahal. Her Bollywood film debut was supposed to have been in Love You Hamesha, opposite Akshaye Khanna, but the film was stalled and she ultimately made her debut in N. Chandra's low-budget comedy Style.
Though Style met with success at the box office, most of her other films have not done as well. An exception was Jhankaar Beats, another comedy in which she co-starred with Shayan Munshi, Juhi Chawla, Rahul Bose, Rinke Khanna and Sanjay Suri. Most of her appearances have been item numbers and cameos. Her few leading roles have been in low-budget films.
Riya has also appeared in Bengali,Tamil, Telegu, Malayalam and even English films. She was slated to appear in Anjan Dutta's The Bong Connection, with her sister, but was eventually dropped from the project. She was replaced by Peeya Rai Chaudhary. It would have been the second time the two sisters acted together, after director Ajai Sinha's The Bachelor. She has also appeared in a Bangladeshi film, titled Money Porey Tomakey. Her most notable South Indian film to date has been director Santhosh Sivan's Ananthabhadram, which was also the director's first Malayalam venture. During the filming of Shaadi No. 1, she was hit by a motorbike, and supposedly had a near death experience.
Modeling
Riya became a popular model when she appeared in numerous music videos for songs by popular singers, including Asha Bhonsle, Falguni Pathak, Jagjit Singh and Sonu Nigam. She was one of many Bollywood stars who appeared in Haath Se Haath Mila an anti-HIV/AIDS music video.
She is also an advertising model. A high point of her modeling career was when she replaced Lisa Ray as the Lakmé Girl, but she has since been replaced by Yana Gupta. Her other notable assignments include Colgate, Limca, Vatika, Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate, and Margarita King.
Riya has appeared on the cover of a number of magazines. In 2004, she was featured partially nude in leading Indian photographer Dabboo Ratnani's annual calendar, which is a major happening in the Indian glamor industry. In Daboo's words, "Her mother saw it much later, after the calendar released. She thought it was too sexy, and Riya shouldn't have done it. But the response to the photograph was superb. Riya was so thrilled that for her next ad campaign, she asked me to light her up like I did in this." She is the only female face to be featured on the calendar on four consecutive years (2004-2007).
