Raveena Tandon, who is an animal lover, made a quick trip to Panna Tiger Reserve (Madhya Pradesh), on her birthday this year with daughter Rasha, who is all set to make her showbiz debut soon. “This time, when Rasha asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday (October 26), I suggested running away to the jungle. So, that’s where we celebrated, in the midst of the forest,” the actress told BT.

Reportedly, Rasha will be making her Hindi film debut opposite Ajay Devgn’s nephew, Aaman Devgn, in Abhishek Kapoor’s next.

Buzz about a film with Ram Charan has also been doing the rounds. While an official confirmation is awaited, Raveena recalled her own beginnings in Bollywood. She shared, “The young breed definitely comes more prepared, it’s different from the experiences that we had. Workshops, which are a trend today, were unheard of earlier. I didn’t even take acting or dancing classes.”

The Mohra actress is known to always speak her mind when she strongly feels about something that needs to be addressed. Sharing her thoughts on how she believes social media is a great platform for the young breed of actors, she explained, “I’ve been pretty candid all my life. I believe if you have nothing to hide, there’s nothing to be scared of. There are times when I have trusted people and paid the price for my honesty. In our times, there were magazine headlines and nasty controversies that were all cooked up. Social media is a boon for the new generation of actors, they can interact with their fans one-on-one. They don’t have to wait for anyone to put out their side of the story.”

On the work front, the recently-announced Welcome To The Jungle will see Raveena sharing screen space with Akshay Kumar, besides featuring actors like Jacqueline Fernandez, Disha Patani, Lara Dutta and others. Excited to be a part of this ensemble, she says, “With Welcome To The Jungle, it’s the first time that I will be working with such a huge ensemble cast. The ensemble cast films I have been a part of have mostly been at a lesser level than Welcome To The Jungle. This one is definitely going to be massive.”

“I’m currently in my gaaon ka ghar which is situated in the interiors of Maharashtra,” says Raveena Tandon. Away from the concrete jungle, she is spending her time cycling around her rural neighbourhood, enjoying the fresh air and engaging in plastic clean-up drives. She believes that it’s her responsibility to educate the village locals about the perils of plastic.

“Slowly and steadily, we need to make people aware about the destructive nature of plastic and the trouble it is causing to our environment and oceans. We’ve reached a dangerous place and we need to conserve whatever little is left of the nature,” she says.

Tandon shares that the past few years saw her shifting to a more eco-friendly way of living: “Both here and in Mumbai, we’ve shifted to solar power. We’ve also created separate tanks for rain water harvesting. We use that water to water plants. Anil (Thadani; husband) and I carpool most of the times. If we have to go in and around the vicinity, we use the same car. And this Environment Day, I’ve ordered about a thousand plants and I’ll be doing a drive in and around my gaaon ka ghar. ”

Stressing on the importance of recycling and the need to opt for organic food items, the Shab (2017) actor says, “I try and recycle almost about everything, right from old chairs to newspapers. In our home in Mumbai, we’ve gone as organic as possible. From vegetables and fruits to shampoos, soaps and linen, my entire family has begun using organic products.”

Tandon rues the lack of political will which is stopping environmental conservation from being a part of the mainstream discourse. “There is a need for development but it has to go hand in hand with conservation. Wherever there is a forest area and wildlife, we need to leave that place alone. We need to convert barren lands into green lands and then make commercial areas around that place. There needs to a political will to save this planet. One must also teach our future generations to protect the planet from the harm that we have already done,” she ends.

As told to Akash Bhatnagar (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 21, 2020)

I was always inclined towards production and direction, no one ever imagined I’d become an actress. I was in the eighth standard when I started assisting dad (filmmaker Ravi Tandon) during vacations. When I was in the tenth standard, I got a call from ace photographer Shantanu Sheorey’s assistant Amrita Sehgal. They were looking for new models and wanted to do a photoshoot with me. I told her my dad will get back to them and forgot all about it. But she was persistent and promised me a portfolio by Shantanu, which is when I spoke to dad who left the choice to me. And I finally said “yes” to Amrita.

Those pictures went around, and I got my first ad for a shampoo brand. I interned with ad guru Prahlad Kakkar during my summer break and after graduating, joined him full time. I became the in-house model who would fill up for absentees. I was still just a lowly assistant, but everyone would tell me I was made for the screen. I didn’t take them seriously.

Then, one day, while hanging out with friends at a pizzeria, I was spotted by the late director Anant Balani and Vivek Vaswani. They recognised me as Ravi Tandon’s daughter and got in touch with producer G P Sippy saab. I’d done a couple of ads with Salman’s (Khan) friend, Bunty Walia, who was also a model then. A few days later, when I was shooting for an ad in Bandra, Bunty called, asking me to step out of the studio. Outside, he wondered if I’d do a film with Salman, who was also there with him. I was so shocked, I only mumbled that I’d have to ask dad. Vivek and Sippy saab called him and before I knew it, I was signed for Patthar Ke Phool.

I’d been offered a couple of films before that, including Fateh, Heer Ranjha, Jungle and a project by Anwar Ali. I refused all of them and only gave my nod to Patthar Ke Phool because my colleagues were huge Salman fans and told me they would swing by my set to watch him from far. After that, I could quit acting if I wanted to.

Two days after I gave my nod, we had a photoshoot with Sheena, Ramesh Sippy’s daughter. I didn’t even have a stylist and had to wear Sheena’s clothes. I didn’t even get a makeup man and had never acted in my life. They made it easy for me. For the first shot, I had to excitedly walk into the living room with a “Hi Daddy”. It still took five takes to be okayed, but Manohar Singh ji, who was playing my dad, was very sweet and encouraging.

After a couple of scenes with him, they moved on to some songs with Salman. I had no training in dance and only after we started shooting, I joined Kathak maestro Gopi Krishna ji to learn adas and expressions for two months. While I was shooting those songs, I was simultaneously giving my first-year junior college exams. Choreographers Chinni Prakash ji and Rekha still remind me how I’d bring my textbooks to the set and study in a corner.

Salman and I first shot for the skating song, “Tumse Jo Dekhte Hi”, and had our first childish squabble while doing a photo shoot for “Kabhi Tu Chaliya Lagta Hai” over bubble gum.

Monika Rawal Kukreja (HINDUSTAN TIMES; July 7, 2020)

Even after three weeks since Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, conspiracy theories and assumptions refuse to die down. Angered by this rumour-mongering and blame game, actor Raveena Tandon urges, “Stop sensationalising it now. You can’t blame anyone, not the film industry. This is just becoming a witch hunt, a lynch mob, which is wrong. People have to think rationally. It’s doing a great disservice to the poor boy who’s gone.”

Tandon, 45, reveals she was appalled to read a WhatsApp forward doing the rounds that, “Karan Johar intentionally made a bad film for Sushant, so he could ruin his career. Why would a producer pay an actor crores of rupees, sign him in his movie and then invest so much time and mechanism to intentionally sabotage his own film? Such absurd allegations!”

However, Tandon doesn’t deny the existence of “camps and mean girl gang” in the film industry, which she had also tweeted about recently.

“There are good people and there are bad people. And there are bad people who do plan your failure; I’ve been through it. They are the ones who want to see you down and removed from films. It’s literally like classroom politics. They play dirty games,” she says, adding, “But people like this are there in every industry. We’re in a high profile, glamorous job and the competition is cut-throat, so it gets highlighted.”

Tandon gives her own example of being removed from a film overnight. “I was doing fittings with the film’s designer for an outfit for the evening mahurat party. At 4pm, I get a call that I’ve been dumped from the movie and I’ve to return the signing amount because the hero’s girlfriend didn’t like me,” she reveals, quoting an interview of late actor Shashi Kapoor that helped her. “He had said, ‘Main party par gaya, and there I realised the hero is someone else. They didn’t even inform me’. So, what happened with all these false claims of nepotism? Even the greatest filmmaker Raj Kapoor’s family wasn’t spared by politics.”

Mention how Rajput always feared being thrown out of Bollywood if his films didn’t work, Tandon says that’s a reality with every actor. “Even the topmost stars or topmost producer, director’s brothers or sons have that fear. If that wasn’t the case, all star kids would have been superstars today, but there are many who have been thrown out of Bollywood. So, when Sushant appealed to the public to come and see his films, nobody knew that it was said with so much charged emotion. Maybe he was emotionally very fragile always,” says Tandon, who still can’t fathom “what drove such a young, handsome, talented, successful boy to take this drastic step”.

Raveena Tandon on her part in KGF sequel, writing four shows that she’ll produce and bonding with family over video calls
Akash Bhatnagar (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 29, 2020)

Last year, Raveena Tandon returned to mainstream Bollywood with an appearance in the recreated version of “Sheher Ki Ladki” for Khandaani Shafakhana. The ’90s chartbuster, featuring the actress alongside Suniel Shetty, had originally appeared in the 1996 action-thriller, Rakshak. But according to her, it was a one-off thing. “I love dancing, but I want to do more age-appropriate stuff now, something I can do with dignity and grace,” Raveena asserts.

Moving on to future endeavours, the actress informs that shooting of her upcoming project, the Yash-starrer KGF 2, is complete and only dubbing remains. “I am playing a politician, a strong character. She is the hero as well as the villain of the film, with a very interesting story arc,” Raveena informs, adding that she is also exploring writing. “I have completed four shows that have all been greenlit. I will be producing them as well.”

The actress is also kicked about her time on a reality show’s judges panel with Nach Baliye 9, in which she worked with director-friend Ahmed Khan and loved it. “You get to do a critic’s job and get paid well for it. Otherwise, it’s always us being judged. You also get to wear the best clothes,” she laughs, adding that incidentally, it’s where another one of her upcoming projects developed. “Ahmed discussed his next directorial, a comedy, with me during the show. He is an old friend and we share a comfort zone, so I didn’t ask many questions before saying ‘yes’. It was to go on the floors in June-July, but now, there is no clarity,” reveals Raveena, alluding to the Coronavirus-led uncertainty.

At home, she is happy to have got ample bonding time with family during the lockdown. “We work out and do yoga together on the terrace and play board games every night after dinner. I do miss seeing my parents, though,” she says. Speaking of family, Raveena became a naani again last year, when daughter Chhaya gave birth to a boy. And thanks to technology, she has been able to witness some memorable milestones. “I haven’t missed even one crucial moment, from him learning to crawl to his first tooth coming out. One of my daughters is in Goa, while one in South Africa, but we stay in touch through video calls,” beams the actress.

Ask her if younger daughter Rasha has shown any interest in an acting career and Raveena says, “Her main love is singing and she hasn’t shown any interest in acting yet. But the day she does, I’ll be there to guide her and help her stand on her own feet.”

Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; April 6, 2020)

Actor Raveena Tandon, apart from spreading the message about pets not being the carrier of the Coronavirus, is also working on other initiatives. Case in point, owners being fully responsible for their pets in public.

“The thing about pet owners is that they have enough money to spend on pets wearing fancy socks and shoes, but they’ll not spend even ₹500 on a poop scooper. This is something which I’ve been talking about to our local corporator as well, to try and start a campaign,” she says.

Tandon, 45, points how people walk their dogs, and “literally turn their face around while the pet goes pooping on the road”. She rues, “They’ll not take two minutes to train their dog walker or staff to pick the pet’s poop! They leave it for the poor municipal sweepers who’ll come to clean in the morning”.

Apart from such social causes, what is also keeping Tandon occupied is making sure her two kids Ranbir and Rasha don’t waste time, since schools are shut. “I’m showing them all our Hindi classics like Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Padosan, and yes, they’ve already seen Andaz Apna Apna (laughs). I anyway prefer home schooling, and feel that with travelling and showing kids different things teaches them stuff that you can’t learn from schools,” she says.

Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; March 27, 2020)

Being a celebrity, there’s always the onus on one to set an example for others. And even though the lockdown across India took place only recently to curb the spread of Coronavirus, Raveena Tandon says she has always been practising a hygiene routine.

She took to Instagram to show how when she was travelling by train before Holi this month, she made sure to disinfect her cabin herself. “This whole thing about not shaking hands has come about now. I’ve been practising it since a long time now. In fact, my husband (Anil Thadani, distributor) used to make fun of me. I would never shake hands with people because sometimes, some have clammy hands. We are celebs, so a lot of people want to, but you don’t know where it has been. I have been doing Namaste for seven-eight years now, especially since my children were born. Anyone coming from outside and wanting to hold them would have to use a sanitiser first,” says Tandon, adding how “we have abused this planet so much, that we can’t even step out of our homes. Also, so many maids and drivers, have lost their jobs. I’ve been requesting people to not lay them off as they depend on their salaries.”

The 45-year-old specially adds that misinformation being spread about linking the Covid-19 disease to pet animals was wrong, as some people began to abandon them. “I put up an Instagram post too about animals not being responsible for Covid-19,” says Tandon.

Apart from this, the actor’s professional and travel commitments too have got impacted because of the situation. “I was supposed to be shooting in mid-April, but it has been pushed, and rightfully so. Everything should be. Luckily, we finished KGF 2’s schedule in February. I was supposed to go skiing in March to Verbier, Switzerland, and it got cancelled. We used to go every year. And one thing about hospitality in India. I have friends in the hotel industry, most of them in India have refunded most of their clients! But when Switzerland shut down, they didn’t refund. The only thing we were refunded for was cancellation as our flights were via Italy. Indians think by the heart,” she says.

As a mother, Tandon believes that this extended holiday period for her kids - Ranbir and Rasha should be fruitful. “We have got great stuff planned, like movie evenings, I am showing them all the Hindi classics. Apart from books such as Anne Frank. I am also making them watch documentaries on varied things. Otherwise, it’s always school, homework and repeat,” she signs off.