NEW DELHI - Saying yes to a movie like ‘Rang Rasiya’, where she plays the sensuous muse of a painter, was tough, says actress Nandana Sen.

‘I am a spiritual person and I did not want to hurt the religious sentiments of anyone by doing this movie. Subjects like these do drag you into stupid controversies and I wanted to avoid all that,’ Nandana told IANS at an event here.

‘When I got this offer, I discussed the script with my dad and all possibilities that could happen while doing this movie. He gave his nod and here I am playing the muse of the great painter who was way ahead in his thinking,’ added the daughter of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.

Based on legendary painter Raja Ravi Varma’s life, the movie is a sensuous love story of the great painter and his muse, a woman called Sugandhabai. Randeep Hooda plays Ravi Varma.

Elaborating on her character Nandana said: ‘The character is sensual yet innocent and is hungry for love. She is playful, very romantic, strong-headed and brave. She was a legend in her own right, because she was a trend setter and a fashion icon for everyone at that time.’

‘The whole world used to tell her that she was beautiful but she never believed them till she met this great painter who changed her life. She was harassed after he painted her as a goddess but she was brave enough to face the wrath.’

Mehta’s bilingual ‘Rang Rasiya’ is courting controversy for the number of sensuous scenes it has but the actress says that there are no sex scenes in the movie.

‘Censors have passed the movie so the question of vulgarity does not even arise. There are no sex scenes in the movie. There is one particular painting scene that might seem vulgar, but it is not. That scene is very important because that is the key part of the film and the whole story revolves around it,’ Nandana said.

Nandana, who has worked in movies like ‘Black’ and ‘My Wife’s Murder’, feels that ‘Rang Rasiya’ transformed her into a beautiful woman.

‘I am a very clumsy person in real life, but after portraying this completely feminine character who wears beautiful saris, heavy jewellery, big nose rings I felt like a woman. I was so much into the character that I started missing the saris and the jewellery after we were done with the shooting,’ she said.

After this, the actress will be seen romancing Vivek Oberoi and doing some action scenes in ‘Prince’. She will also be seen in a romantic comedy ‘Season’s Greetings’, Anubhav Sinha’s satirical comedy ‘Zindabad’ and in Ashwin Kumar’s ‘The Forest’.

‘After ‘Black’ I was getting the same kind of offers so I chose to stay away from them but presently I am very happy with the kind of movies I have because they are of different genres and I am not type-cast in any of them,’ she concluded.