Riva Arora has had a fantastic year. Her year began with ‘Chhatriwali’ on Zee5 which went on to create a lot of buzz. She has since then been on a rollercoaster ride with one thing after the other on her plate.
Talking to Prateek Sur, she opens up about how ‘Chhatriwali’ came to her, the part around sex education, her family’s acceptance of the topic, her entire family watching the movie together and lots more. Excerpts from the candid chat:
‘Chhatriwali’ was massively appreciated by all. How did the film fall on your plate?
The movie eventually just came to me. What is meant for you will eventually come to you. It happened in the most beautiful way and when I read the script, I knew I had to do this role. I felt connected with this role because Mini loves her mother and is very supportive of her and that's how I am in real life. It was an amazing experience to be in ‘Chhatriwali’ and I'm very grateful for that.
Looking at your character in the film, it seems you shot the film quite a while ago. So, was there a delay in the making of the film?
We shot this movie at the 2020 end or 2021 beginning. I don't remember. But yes, I have changed a lot since then because it has been almost three years now since we shot this movie. There were a number of delays in the movie. Everything takes time as there is post-production and then dubbing, editing and everything. But it was great that it was released in 2023 at the beginning because 2023 just began with a great start for me.
So the movie tries to normalize a very taboo topic of sex education in Indian society. How aware of everything were you when you started shooting for the film, or was there anything you learned during the process of filming?
Yes, I did learn quite a lot of things while shooting, that I didn’t know. But yeah, I did learn a lot of things. And even if we look into acting, yes. There were some great actors with me, Rajesh Tailang, Prachi Ma’am and everybody else. So, it was great to work with them. I got to learn a lot from them in acting as well.
Can you highlight any of the lessons you learnt by shooting the film? Incidents may be which you weren't aware of as a child, but then after shooting for the movie, you realized.
Well, I don't remember exactly because it has been a long time. But yeah, I did. When we were shooting some things that I didn't know when it was they were shooting, so I was quite surprised knowing about it and it was good to be a part of this one.
In your real life, did you have sex education classes in school?
I did.
Indian families usually don't like to talk about sex education and considering it is a taboo topic at home, how open or frank have you been with your parents? Or have your parents been open with you when it comes to talking about safe sex and sex education at home?
Me and my mom literally share everything. We are just like best friends more than mother-daughter. We talk about everything openly in this, in our house, everything. It's not like we cannot talk about anything in my house. Even when we saw this movie, my full family was watching it. My grandfather, my grandmother, my mom, my mama, everybody was sitting together and watching the movie. We are open in this family.
So there has been no barrier since the start. Before you began shooting. You've always been open about the topic?
Yes.
