In her 30-year career, Raveena Tandon Thadani has had her share of glamorous roles, but there is a distinct shift towards complex roles in the past few years. She proved that her acting hasn’t lost its sheen as she ably took on the part of the tough-talking cop in Aranyak (2021). Now, Tandon is gearing up to play one of the antagonists in KGF: Chapter 2—as the shrewd political leader Ramika Sen, she will influence the narrative of the period drama that also stars Kannada star Yash and Sanjay Dutt.

Tandon acknowledges that it wasn’t easy to essay Ramika, a character that director Prashanth Neel describes as “the gavel of brutality”. Offering her interpretation of the role, Tandon says, “Ramika is dark, but she is not ruthless. Her character [initially comes across] as white because she is perceived to be doing the right thing, but in the larger scheme of things, she is doing the worst possible thing.” She had to dig deep to do justice to a part that has evil motivations.

“I believe there’s a bit of evil in all of us; there is a bit of Ram and Raavan in all of us. Raavan was an intelligent man, but he let the wrong take over his life. Likewise, when I get a character like Ramika Sen, [I] bring out that evil at the time and then say goodbye to it once my role is over. In fact, I am waiting to play an out-and-out dark and evil character; it’s all the more exciting because there are so many layers to explore.”

If embracing an intense character is tough, most actors say that shaking it off after the shoot is even tougher. Tandon, however, is lucky in that aspect. “Playing such characters doesn’t take a toll on me because I don’t carry my work back with me. I switch off the moment I am in my car, heading home. The only time [I felt disturbed] was after completing Maatr [2017]. I could identify with the mother’s pain as I have three daughters.”