Friday, April 20, 2012

Dinesh Kamath's old article on Raveena Tandon that was published in Newsband



Raveena Tandon will now be seen grooving to an item number in Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Bbuddah... Hoga Tera Baap.
Raveena's six memorable item numbers are Tu cheez badi hai..., Tip tip barsa paani (Mohra), Ye raat, Rabba rabba (Aks), Kisi disco mein jaayen...(Bade Miyaan Chote Miyaan), Sheher ki ladki (Rakshak)
The actress, who has been missing from action, since the birth of her daughter, is now all set to make a comeback and guess what, with an item number. In fact, she had initially declined to do the number, but David Dhavan and Ram Gopal Varma (directors and close friends) persuaded her and said that she would be the perfect choice for a dance number like that. They convinced her to say a yes, and of course she did make an exception because the film had Amitabh Bachchan too.
But it's not only now that the actor was apprehensive about doing an item number. Raveena, apparently was also offered popular number Chhaiya Chhaiya that then went to Malaika Arora Khan and also a song in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, but she turned them down.
If it wasn't for the item-girl tag, Bollywood actor Raveena Tandon could have stepped into the shoes of Malaika Arora Khan and danced on the roof of the train in the popular item-number Chaiya Chaiya from Dil Se (1998). Chaiya chaiya was offered to her first!!
Every actor today is vying for an item number. The situation was completely different a couple of years back. When Raveena was doing a lot of these numbers, she wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing, so she completely stopped taking up these songs and instead worked on brushing up her image of an actor. She wanted to be known for her films and not as an item girl, so it was a conscious decision to turn down all offers that poured in.
This time too she took the step after a lot of thinking. She wanted her other film, the one with a full-fledged role to release first as opposed to Buddha Hoga Tera Baap where she plays a guest role. But she is happy with the responses she is getting. It has been really encouraging.
As far as Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap is concerned, one of the things fans are most excited about besides Amitabh Bachchan is seeing Raveena Tandon on the silver screen again. The actress made her debut in 1991, and through the next 15 years, she gave outstanding performances in films like Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Daman and Aks. She was last seen on screen in 2006, but has continued producing films. Known not only for her acting but also for her outstanding dance numbers, she is coming back with a bang in Bbuddah… with her hit song Chandigarh Ki Star. However, it is not just that number that is exciting, there is also her character's relationship with Bachchan in the film.
In the film, she is playing a character who is much, much younger than Bachchan, and she has always had this childhood crush on Bachchan. She kind of gets all woozy when she sees him and kind of giggly-headed. That's the basic character of this girl called Kammo. Her name is Kamini, but she calls herself Kammo and she thinks that the whole of Punjab is eating out of her hand, and that all the boys of Punjab are absolutely in love with her. That's the delusional world she lives in. But it's kind of cute, the whole character. She's little over the top. She's a little loud. That's what she's all about.
Raveena is the only one of her generation who has done four films with Amitabh and in all different kinds of roles. In Bade Miyan Chote Miyan she played his younger sister, in Agnivarsha he was playing God and she was playing a mere mortal. He was playing the Lord Indra. It was a mythological film. In Aks, she was actually paired with Manoj Bajpayee, but she had these confrontation scenes with him [Bachchan] and he interrogates her. It was an intense kind of film actually. Working with Bachchan is totally a pleasure for Raveena. It's always a learning experience for her. She is so much in awe of him, because he's someone she has seen since she was a child. He's been her dad's colleague; her dad has directed three films, which had Bachchan in them. She has seen him since she was a kid, since she was two years old, so she has grown up watching him and watching him work. When she has to do these really serious scenes with him she is honestly shaking in her pants. He has this effect on her, which leaves her all rambling and babbling when she is talking to him and most of the time she puts her foot into her mouth. This was a comedy and she was supposed to be her babbling, rambling self in front of him so it was quite easy. But in Aks, it was tough because it was a very intense serious film and she had dialogues where she had to look straight into his eyes, and had to be really cool and very straight giving him the lines. So that was tougher than doing these shots.
Thus Raveena has her outstanding dance number Chandigarh Ki Star that just released. She has been very lucky with music throughout her career. At every point she has had a film, which has had hit music and that's been fabulous. She started working when she was 15 and a half. She came in absolutely fresh, absolutely raw. She evolved as actor including the way she was looking. She stylized herself. Experience taught her all that. But today's generation comes all ready. They are completely ready to be picked up off the rack.
Raveena is doing a film called Alert. It has Sanjay Dutt in it, her and Anupam Kher. It's a psychological thriller.
Raveena just wants to go bit by bit because her kids take up a lot of her time and she hates being away from home for very long.
Raveena doesn't call Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap her comeback film because she just did a bilingual film in Bangla called Laboratory and she was doing another film with Jaya Bachchan, Aap Ke Liye Hum (earlier titled Chaasni), which got stalled for some reason.
Today item songs are very different so Raveena has tweeted to her fans not to expect too much from this item song, as she is totally covered from top to bottom in it.
Raveena Tandon was one of the leading Bollywood heroines in the 90s. After getting married to producer Anil Thadani she decided to settle down and raise a family and put films on the back burner. This yummy mummy is back now and looking as fabulous as ever. She did a few shows for the small screen but she will now be doing a proper lead role in a psychological thriller called Alert opposite Sanjay Dutt. It is a very good role to be filmed by debutant director, Santhosh.
Raveena, who last had a release in 2006 with a film called Sandwich, has really shaped up and lost oodles of weight.
Raveena Tandon's favourite season is here. A die-hard romantic at heart, the actress loves the monsoon especially when it's time to take a long drive with her family in the rains. Ironically enough, most of Raveena's hit songs especially Tip Tip Barsa from Mohra has been shot in the rains.
So let's see how the Indian movie-goers will react when they see Raveena performing once again on the Big Screen.

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