"My grandmother is much better," Raima's assurance to Suchitra Sen's fans

Alarmist headlines claiming Suchitra Sen is in a hospital in a critical condition are cut down by the legendary actress’ granddaughter, the lovely-in-her-own-right Raima Sen. Speaking from Kolkata on Monday afternoon Raima who’s been stationed in Kolkata for a month now says, “It’s true grand mom was very ill. Like last year she again had a respiratory problem. But she’s responded very well to the treatment. She is much better now. We should be able to take her home in a couple of days.” “For the past few days I’ve been only at the hospital. But now that grandma’s breathing is back to normal I can breathe easy. All our friends are here in Kolkata. So for Riya and me all the ‘happening’ parties are in Kolkata,” she adds. Suchitra Sen who is considered a legend in her lifetime has not appeared in a film or in public since 1978. Says Raima, “You should see the crowd in front of the hospital. It’s like the whole of Kolkata has turned up.” Raima is currently doing something historic in Kolkata. For the first time the she will be seen on screen with her mother Moon Moon Sen and her sister Riya. Entitled Kolkata Calling the film is directed by Mainak Bhowmick. Says Raima, “It’s a Bengali film and my mom is acting with my sister and I for the first time.” The two sisters have acted together in Rituparno Ghosh’s Nauka Dubi. Raima recalls Rituda with much fondness. “He always said I am the daughter he never had. He treated me like a princess. I miss Rituda all the time. But life moves on, I guess.” Raima has just shot her most traumatic film to date. In Mriyunjay Devrat’s The Bastard Child she is cast as a Bangladeshi woman who is abducted by Pakistani’s during Bangladesh’s war of liberation in 1971. Reliving the horror Raima shares, “I virtually lived the abducted woman’s trauma. The atrocities that she must have gone through just got to me. I felt violated brutalized and compromised.”