Meet Bollywood actress who graduated from Harvard, wrote children’s books, did nude scenes in…

Bollywood has seen several actresses who have captured the imagination of the audience with their enchanting beauty and mighty acting chops. Today we will discuss one such leading lady who made some unconventional choices in her career and even bared it all for film. 

 

She is not just known for her filmography, but also for her philanthropy work. Apart from setting benchmarks in films, she did some phenomenal work for children. Her work is praised by the audience, but she also met criticism over her choices. Apart from being an actress, she's also a screenwriter, a children's author, and a child-rights activist. 

 

 

Nandana Sen, daughter of Nobel Laureate and Bharat Ratna economist Amartya Sen and Padma Shri awardee Nabanita Dev Sen. Nandana was born in New Delhi and has a sister,  Antara Dev Sen, who is a journalist. Nandana Sen studied literature at Harvard University, and she was awarded the Detur Prize in her first year and thereafter won both the John Harvard Scholarship and the Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Award for Academic Achievement of the Highest Distinction.

 

 

Nandana made her Bollywood debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black (2005). In this film, she played the 17-year-old sister of Rani Mukerji. Later she starred in over 20 feature films from various countries and in various languages. This also includes English films Seducing Maarya, The War Within, and The World Unseen. 

 

 

In 2008, Nandana Sen was seen playing Raja Ravi Varma's love interest in Rang Rasiya. In the film, Randeep Hooda played the 19th-century Indian painter, and Nandana played Sugandha, who became the inspiration behind his masterpieces. For this film, Nandana bared it all and gave frontal nude scenes. Though the movie was critically acclaimed, it went on to become a commercial failure. 

 

 

Nandana was also a literary editor at Houghton Mifflin Company, and as Princess Jasmine in Disneyland, is also a children's book author, a screenwriter, a maker of short films, and a published writer in multiple genres, including poetry, narrative non-fiction and Op-Eds. 

 

Sen has authored six children's books, In My Heart (Penguin Random House India, 2019), The Monkey Who Wanted to Fly (Italian: La scimmietta che voleva volare, Fetrinelli Kids, 2018), Talky Tumble of Jumble Farm (Penguin Random House India, 2017), Not Yet! (Tulika Books, 2017), Mambi and the Forest Fire (Puffin, 2016), and Kangaroo Kisses (Otter-Barry Books, 2016). 

 

 

Nandana married John Makinson, Chairman of Penguin Random House, in June 2013. The couple adopted a Bengali girl in 2018. Previously she dated Indian film producer, Madhu Mantena, for over a decade.