Reflecting upon her Bollywood career, actor Raveena Tandon opened up about the time when heroines were more often typecast as mere love interests and also revealed a secret about her craft. In the weekend episode of ‘India’s Best Dancer 3’, she graced the stage as a special guest.
Judge of the dance reality show, Geeta Kapur, asked Raveena about her daring choices during an era when heroines typically picked safe characters to play, saying, “Getting heroine-oriented roles back then usually meant sweet, beautiful characters that heroes would fall in love with. However, your portrayal in ‘Aks’ was different and much darker. I don’t recall heroines often opting for such roles during that time.”
Revealing her perspective on the same, Raveena shared: “You are absolutely right, Geeta. During that era, heroines were apprehensive about being typecast and we often found ourselves in roles portraying sweet, affluent father-daughter dynamics, often dancing to catchy tunes with ponytails.”
“I made a deliberate effort to take on films and songs that broke that mold. Whether it was ‘Daman’ which addressed a sensitive issue or ‘Aks’, where I portrayed a completely negative character and later the film ‘Satta’, these projects were all divergent from the norm of the late 1990s,” she said.
The ‘Aranyak’ star said: “Interestingly, many of my songs, touchwood, became massive hits, sometimes overshadowing the depth of the roles we were tackling. Nonetheless, I believe I’ve not only survived but thrived in my career by reaching a luxurious peak today with projects like ‘KGF 2’ and others on the horizon.”
“My secret, I believe, lies in embracing new characters and breathing life into them, that’s my craft. In our time, we earned the opportunity to choose such roles after having a substantial body of work, but nowadays, this trend has shifted to earlier stages. Back then, sweet roles and catchy songs were the norm and stepping into unconventional roles felt like a daring choice,” Raveena shared.