Aarya 3 actor Sushmita Sen: ‘Among other things in my second innings, I want to do a mature love story, a kickass action film and play a dangerous antagonist’

A still from Aarya 3, releasing on Disney+ Hotstar on November 3.

In 2024, Sushmita Sen will complete three decades in the film industry. In these 30 years, the actress has seen multitude of ups and downs in her professional as well as personal life, including serious health issues which involved a heart attack earlier this year. The former Miss Universe returned to acting after an eight-year hiatus with Ram Madhvani’s crime-thriller Aarya on Disney + Hotstar in 2020. Sen plays Aarya Sareen, a protective mother who is forced to become a don after her husband is shot dead. The third season of the show streams from November 3 but before that, the Taali actor opened up about her role at the trailer launch of her show. Edited excerpts:

Three seasons of Aarya. What has the show and the character come to mean for you?

Ever since the eight-year hiatus ended and my second innings as an actor began, all the credit for whatever I have achieved goes to this fantastic team I worked with. They have been the sole reason for me to be excited every morning to go to work because I got to learn something new each day. Ultimately, one needs to have that audacity and the vision to make a show like this which this team and the platform had. In this season, we have two women DOPs as well. Aarya is every woman for me. As Aarya, there is every single opportunity to celebrate life, to celebrate loss, to live through pain and to rise stronger. The sherni (lioness) she has come to be known as is, I believe, every woman. It is a huge privilege for me to play that.

Aarya has gone through so much in the first and second seasons. How is she going to be different in the third season of the show?

So much has happened in her life in the first two seasons. She has been trying to collect things that she could save. In the third season, she has nothing to save and nothing to lose, which makes her a very dangerous woman. Also, in season two, everyone had complained why she hadn’t turned into a don. This is that season when we finally have a woman who is unapologetic about the seat she sits on. I find her to be very dangerous this season.

Aarya has now reached a point in her life when she is dealing with international thugs and the cops are after her. Will she hunt or get hunted?

Winning and losing is part of life and that is also the excitement of the show. The first two seasons were very much about family and her children. The third season will be too but she has now understood that if she stops riding the tiger, the tiger will kill her. She has agreed to ride the tiger.

You returned to acting after eight years and have done three seasons of Aarya and the film Taali (2023) where you played a transgender activist. Do you think that the industry failed to recognise your potential in the initial days?

To think about whether the industry did not realise my potential or did not give me opportunities is a small thing. The big thing is that in 2024, I will complete 30 years in this industry. I was 18 years old when I was put on the stage and that is when I met myself, my people and my country. In the 30 years that followed, people have supported me. It is such a big thing that the industry I left eight years ago has again welcomed me with so much love. It is all because of my audience. Till the time they want to see me, koi kuchh nahi bigaad sakta (nothing can go wrong).

You have worked with the superstars and now, you are doing all kinds of roles. What else is on your wishlist?

My second innings started in 2020 when I became a newcomer again. I want to do a mature love story. I want to do a kickass action film, the kind no one has ever done. I want to play the worst, most dangerous antagonist you have seen on screen. This is just the beginning. I hope to continue doing good work.

Aarya is a very protective mother. Have your children seen this protective side of yours?

You can see the truth in Aarya and all the other characters because we have not forgotten our truths; we carry them with us. The protectiveness of Aarya is something my kids have seen in Sushmita. I am a mother of two daughters and I did not leave them on their own until they reached an age where I could do that. It has been a daunting task. There are two things that are at play. It is one thing to protect your kids and the second is to teach them how to protect themselves. These two things are part of my life and have been captured beautifully in Aarya’s life as well.