As a society we need to change our laws to protect women: Raveena Tandon
Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon was the showstopper for the recently concluded Mysore Fashion Week.
She’s someone who never minces her words or shies away from calling a spade a spade. We speak to the ravishing Raveena Tandon who looked stunning in a royal blue and golden saree, as she walked the ramp for designer Jayanthi Ballal at the recently concluded Mysore Fashion Week. “It was a great feeling to walk as the showstopper for Jayanthi. She added a lot of volume and depth to my saree with her intricate work,” says Raveena of her visit to Mysuru.
Known to be quite the ballsy star for her unabashed attitude, she’s always lived life on her own terms. The daughter of director-producer Ravi Tandon, she entered Bollywood (debut with Salman Khan in Patthar ke Phool) on her own standing and went on to act in Tollywood and Kollywood films. She has completed 25 years in the film industry.
“I worked with Kamal Haasan in Aalavandhan; he helped me evolve as an actor and introduced me to some great people. After doing a few wonderful films, I got married and had two kids (Ranbirvardhan and Rasha). It’s not easy balancing work and home, but how well I manage this can make a significant difference to my relationship with my family. Women are bonded emotionally as well as physically to their responsibilities. Becoming a mother is a blessing which is bestowed only on women and alongwith motherhood comes the responsibility of raising children with the best of everything. There are always two sides to a coin, but I’ve had the best of both worlds and was lucky to have a supportive and doting husband. Like any working mother I plan home, work and other commitments keeping in mind that I need to give my best in all! If you set your priorities right, things automatically fall into place.” Besides a son and a daughter, Raveena adopted two girls Pooja and Chhaya (the latter got married at a church wedding in Goa recently).
Balancing work and home, she manages to keep fit and fabulous. “While having two kids is a handful; I manage to take time out for physical activity. Anil and I love the outdoors and we do end up clubbing the two — running after the kids while enjoying an outdoor sport with them,” reveals Raveena.
Recalling a fun incident from one of her earlier shoots, the star who has won a national award for her film Daman shares, “Once I was shooting a happy wedding sequence for a film. But it was one of the worst days of my life. I couldn’t stop the tears coming whenever the camera would roll. I went blank and it was so bad, that my dad was called to the sets. He calmed me down. I had a turnaround, when I started work again and I told myself ‘Enough of wallowing and self-pity-you just have to pick up the pieces and move on’.”
About her upcoming movies Shab and Matr, she signs off saying, “My movie Onir’s Shab is with newcomers Ashish Bist and Arpita and another one is Ashtar Sayed’s Matr, which deals with violence against women. Shab is an emotional story, where I play a high-society woman who is in a relationship with a younger man, while Matr is a social drama. I found the script very gratifying, as it showed how one can deal with criminals indulging in crime against women, while remaining on the right side of the law. As a society we need to change our laws to protect women.”