QUOTE MARTIAL
MAKING WAVES
SHORT TAKES
ROUGH CUTS
MEMORIES
ARCHIVES
MOVIES CHAT

Tough stuff

V S Srinivasan

Raveena Tandon. Click for bigger pic!

There are other women who have done it -- quitting great careers for love and the hope of a secure home life.

She was engaged -- some claimed even married -- to the then hottest hunk in Bollywood, Akshay Kumar. Things went so far, Raveena Tandon even stopped signing new movies. And then came the break-up. It must have been a painful, even destructive experience for many. Even Raveena collapsed, mentally and physically. The ostensible reason was meningitis, but it had been brought on by other factors.

But Raveena, after tumbling down the slopes of both fame, which offers little purchase, and self-esteem, found there was a bottom. And that, she could climb up again.

And so Raveena finally broke free from her mire of desolation.

Click for bigger pic!

She is now back in business with a successful film like Dulhe Raja in the bag and a few more ready for release.

Looking extremely and sensuous, even in a white sari that covered everything, Raveena was quick to come out to answer our questions when we met her on the sets of Farooq Nadiadwala and Naeem Shah's Officer. We just had to pass word through her make-up man about an appointment fixed a couple of days back, and she's out fast.

We put on the tape and, three minutes into the interview, Raveena realises that the pause button is depressed.

"Don't worry, I'll repeat myself," she says and starts off all over again. And this is the woman who's accused of "attitude".

With Sunny Deol. Click for bigger pic!

"I gave up films voluntarily. I returned all signing amounts and, when I re-started, obviously, I had no films and had to start from scratch. The first film, I did was Ziddi. At that time I had only backlog films like Keemat, Vinashak and Vidroh. When I started signing films all over again, I did it all in a rush, because people weren't sure whether I had actually come back. They were curious to know whether I was serious or not."

To convince them, Raveena says, she signed up as many films as she could, including Salakhein, Pardesi Babu and Ghulam-E-Mustafa among others.

"I even signed on Chote Miyan Bade Miyan with Amitabh and Govinda, despite knowing my role would be very small. But I knew the film would do well and help my career. I would also get to work with David Dhawan again. Any insecure girl, who's just come back after a stint in the wilderness, would have done just that. The circumstances under which I signed on these films did not allow me to think." Of course, there were a few who did not even realise she was away

Click for bigger pic!

"Yeah, the gossip magazines kept me alive. But now, I am in a better position and am going ahead and signing movies only after picking them very choosily."

"When I began my career, I had films with the biggest film-makers in the country. All my initial films were averagers or flops. My first super-duper hit was by a new director called Harry Baweja. You see, success is not in your hands... Even if I have a big director like Yash Chopra, Shekhar Kapur it might not work sometimes.

"Look at Dulhe Raja. It was a film made very quietly on the sidelines and, suddenly, when the film was released it struck gold. I never expected the film to do well. Again, a film like Ghulam-e-Mustafa where I had a good and different role didn't do well. So it's not in your hands at all, even though you put in a lot of effort. But it hasn't dampened my spirits. I still believe in putting in a lot of effort in my films."

Raveena is already steeling herself for another tough struggle up.

Click for bigger pic!

"I wasn't in a position from where I can choose. I definitely cannot command or dictate. But I at least have a choice. But then when people review my films like Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, they only say, 'Oh yeah, she has become very good at dancing and prancing around.' No one will remember at what stage I signed that film. But then no one was sitting and waiting for me with a pooja ki thali and an aarti. In fact there are many who just want to push you back and run ahead.

"But then that has been the behaviour of Bollywood for a long time. People are still trying to pull others down. Buy I don't believe in this. I know that if you try to act smart, you will pay for it. You cannot think you are god. The moment you start thinking like that you are finished...

"I have seen people trying to play power games... But I believe in playing it fair still. If you always trying to ruin someone's career, it'll backfire. And I don't believe in stepping on someone else and going ahead. I am ruthless, but not brutal.

Click for bigger pic!

"I'm a god-fearing person. You have to respect the existence of God. If he has given you the power to throw your weight around, then you mustn't misuse it.... If my make-up man or his relative is unwell, I can go to the hospital, use my goodwill and position and make sure he gets better treatment. If you are a public figure, you can do a lot of good for society."

Discussing her predicament again, Raveena says she considers herself pretty lucky that she hasn't vanished completely from public memory. "The people, the industry and the media have all been very nice to me," she says. Actually the jinx thing did not affect me. A lot of people were still signing me on. Ramesh Sippy Yash Chopra, Raj Kumar Santoshi, J P Dutta -- all had signed me. I never had any airs then. Even now I don't have any problems.

"In the last eight months I had to make up for a lot of lost time. So I had to virtually work round the clock. Whenever any one of my directors told me he had to shoot late, I'd be prepared for it. If he said pack up, I'd get up and go. I never had any airs and I hope I don't have them too," she giggles.

Despite being director Ravi (Khel Khel Mein) Tandon's daughter, she had no intention to turn to films for a career.

Click for bigger pic!

"When I was young, I was fat. I never had any intention of becoming an actress or a model till one day a guy whom I had a crush on called me moti.

"I'd always wanted to be a producer or a director like dad. I used to model in college, just for pocket money. After my graduation from Mithibai, I joined Prahlad Kakkar in advertising and made a lot of ad films in a year-and-a-half. It was a great time. I did a lot of pre- and post-production work too.

Cut to the present. And the future.

"Pardesi Babu is one release, and there's Bade Miyan Chote Miyan too. Then I have Tinnu Anand's Ek Hindustani with Sunil Shetty, Officer again with Sunil Shetty, and Vidroh with Akshay (yes, the old flame).

"Then I have Jung with Sanju (Sanjay Dutt) and Jackie (Shroff). Then there is Partho Ghosh's film with Govinda, Aruna Irani's Anari No 1with Govinda, and Abhiyan with Naseer and Nana, shooting for which is slated to start sometime soon. I have also signed one film each with Nitin Manmohan and Sajid Nadiadwala...."

Her present may be rotten, but the mast mast maiden is looking forward to a great future.