Raveena Tandon returns to Tollywood

Actress Raveena Tandon is back in Telugu cinema almost after two decades. She will be seen opposite Mohan Babu in 'Pandavulu Pandavulu Thummeda' that also stars Manchu Vishnu and Manoj.

“The script and my character are fabulous. It has comedy, emotions… everything. The great thing about my character is that I am playing myself. I am not wearing a sari, not crying, no sad face. They gave a brief about the character and told me that I would dress like I normally do. ‘You just be what you are’, they said and that was the good thing,” says Raveena.

Talking more about her role, she  says, “I play a young mother who brings her children up on her own. When I was 21, I adopted two girls and brought them up. My older girl has a baby boy now… that is what this film is also about. The subject is very close to my heart and that is what I loved about it.”
Remembering her earlier stint in Tollywood, the actress says, “It’s always fun coming to Hyderabad. I worked with superstars, but I have never worked with Mohan Babu. My friends Divya Bharti and Shilpa Shetty have worked with him. So now I get an opportunity to work with him.”

“He is one of the most senior and respected and rewarded actors. But under all the strict professionalism, he has a golden heart. Honestly it was a great experience and I enjoyed working with him,” she says, adding that she is open to more Telugu films if the scripts are good.

Talking about shooting with Mohan Babu and others, the seasoned actor says that it was like one big family. “That’s what I loved. Mohan Babu’s family came to the sets, my family too would come sometimes as would the extended family of Hansika, Pranitha, Brahmanandam, Kishore and Dhanush. We all had so much fun and became one family,” she says. “He (Mohan Babu) is very strict as a professional. On the sets, he asked us not to carry mobiles, not to sit in vanity vans when not shooting. He would assemble everyone and bond like a family. That’s a great thing and actually it helped us to do our jobs well,” she adds.

Raveena had also served as chairperson of the Children’s Film Society of India. She had resigned in 2005.

“After I took charge, I started to bring in awareness. I introduced a few new schemes like showing movies in schools, increasing the budget etc.,” she says.

When asked whether she was in touch with any of her old friends in Tollywood, she says, “Not really, but I have spoken to Nag a couple of times.”