SHABIHA NUR KHATOON, OP
Seven-year-old Riva Arora shot to fame after bagging a role in the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Rockstar. The child artiste is also working in a Hollywood project
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Some kids are born celebrities and Riva Arora is surely one of them. The pint-sized celebrity bagged her first role in the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Rockstar when she was only one and a half years old. Today she is a known face in tinseltown, thanks to her super-cute looks and lovable personality. In a telephonic interaction with Orissa POST, the talented child artiste opens up about her dreams and ambitions.
Riva, who was born in Delhi and currently lives in Mumbai, started receiving appreciation and offers during her stay in Delhi. In June 2016, she moved to Mumbai to explore the glamour world.
Dwelling on how she bagged the cameo role in Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar, Riva said: “I, along with my uncle (Mamu), went to a relative’s house and there we saw Ranbir Kapoor and Imtiaz Ali. Luckily, they were looking for a child artiste. After the interaction that day, they called me for audition and I was selected for the role.”
After Rockstar, I did a number of ad shoots and then one day came to know about the movie Mom. So I met Mukesh Chabbra for the audition where I was told that they would get in touch with me after a week. After one week I was again called for the audition and this time I had to give the look test with Sridevi. The production house wanted to check whether I could share the same space confidently with senior actors. With god’s grace I was selected for the role. For me it was life’s most happening moment to be in the same frame with Sridevi aunty,” said Riva.
However, it was not a cakewalk for the small wonder who had to toil really hard to make a mark in the Maximum City.
“After we moved to Mumbai, my daughter really worked hard for the first couple of months. She gave almost 100 auditions and out of that got calls from only two. So, that was really a tough time for us,” said Riva’s mother Nisha, who is an advocate.
The Class IV student, who is currently working in the Hollywood film Best Friends, has received some really good offers that have been the turning points of her career. “After coming to Mumbai, I gave several auditions but nothing clicked. One fine day, I was called to shoot for ICICI, which gave a huge boost to my career and immediately after I received an offer from Danone. These two ads helped me a lot and that was the reason I could bag the offer to star in Haseena Parker,” Riva said.
Riva, he mother said, is an all rounder. “Riva tops her class and is also good in dancing, singing and other co-curricular activities,” Nisha informed.
It is interesting the way she manages to balance her studies and shooting schedule. “During breaks between shooting she completes her assignments and in school her teachers help her complete all the pending work. We are very lucky that her teachers are helpful,” Nisha added.
Asked how the child artiste bagged the Best Friends offer, Riva’s mother replied: “It so happened that a team from Russia had come to Mumbai in search for a child artiste and Riva’s name was suggested by the producers after they saw her performance in Mom.”
Asked about her future plans, the seven-year-old star said that although quite a few projects were in the pipeline, nothing has materialised as yet.
