Subhash K Jha

March 4, 2002. The first day of shooting for Madhur Bhandarkar's latest film Satta produced by Metalights. Madhur seems relaxed. No first day cramps or anticipatory tensions. Although his leading lady Raveena Tandon is yet to arrive.

"She's returning from the US tonight," he says nonchalantly over the din and chaos of the first day's shooting. "Hopefully, she'll start shooting from tomorrow."

March 5, 2002. Bright and early, Raveena heads for the shooting of Satta. "I got in at 2 am and couldn't sleep a wink. Here I am, already on the way to shoot."

The actress is very excited about the project with Bhandarkar. "It is a prized [sic] role. I hope it will win me prizes... I mean awards," she laughs. Jetlag and fatigue do not feature on Raveena's cheerful face.

Incidentally, Satta had Karisma Kapoor in the female lead, though she backed out at the last moment. Both Raveena and Bhandarkar are tightlipped about the turn of events.

Evidently, Satta had originally gone to Raveena. She was excited about the role of a housewife who takes over the reigns of her husband's political career due to his sudden death. But the climax required her to be bold and unconventional in public. That had put Raveena off. It has now been looked into.

Just before flying of to the US for a week, Raveena completed film critic Khalid Mohamed's second feature film (after Fiza), tentatively titled Taarikh, in a record time of 25 days.

Taarikh sees Raveena as a nautch girl, a far cry from the svelte nightclub dancer in Rakesh Mehra's Aks which fetched her the Screen and Filmfare Awards this year.

The going seems pretty smooth for Raveena: "This is the best time for me. But I feel a lot needs to be done. I want to work with directors like Vikram Bhatt and Meghna Gulzar. So what if Filhaal didn't work? The film covered fresh ground. The audience is fed up of ghisa-pita [humdrum] stories. They want new experiences.

"That's why I jumped at the prospect of working with Khalid Mohamed and Madhur Bhandarkar. I loved what they did with Karisma and Tabu in Fiza and Chandni Bar."