Meet the cast of The Japanese Wife

Kolkata: After critically acclaimed films like Mr & Mrs Iyer and 15 Park Avenue, writer-filmmaker Aparna Sen is now working on a story on love across countries.

Sen is currently busy shooting for her new film The Japanese Wife which stars Japanese actress Chigusa Takakoo in a major role.

Shot in Japan, Kolkata and the Sunderbans, The Japanese Wife is a period film co-starring Sen's favourite Rahul Bose, and though one would expect daughter Konkana Sen Sharma in the cast, it's Raima Sen playing the female lead in this emotional love triangle.

"This is a story where the actor gets married to a Japanese girl whom he loves but has no domesticity with her but on the other hand shares domesticity with the girl he is married to due to social reasons, however has no relationship with her in life," Sen says.

Raima – a Bengali film regular with films like Chokherbali, Nishijapon and Antarmahal – relives the role of a widow for the first time and that too sans make-up.

"I do not have much to say about the movie but yes, I am looking good in it without make up," Raima says.

For Japanese actress Takakoo working in her first Indian film has also meant learning to do things the Indian way.

"In Japan we do not have so many cuts. The duration of one shot is much longer but in India we have very short takes. It is at times very easy but some times irritating to give such small takes," Takakoo says.

Based on an unpublished short story, The Japanese Wife is scheduled to release towards the end of the year.