Raveena Tandon, in a new interview, spilled the beans about why she turned down the 1991 film, Prem Qaidi. The role was eventually bagged by Karisma Kapoor.
Raveena Tandon was one of the most sought-after leading ladies in the 90s. Having made her screen debut opposite Salman Khan in the 1991 film, Pathhar Ke Phool, the actress delivered several hits in her career spanning three decades. At the same time, she also rejected a few offers that came her way.
One film that Raveena turned down is K Murali Mohana Rao’s 1991 film, Prem Qaidi. Initially, the film was supposed to star Venkatesh Daggubati and the makers had approached Raveena for the role of his heroine. However, the actress turned down the film as she wasn’t comfortable doing a ‘zip-opening’ scene in the film.
In a recent interview with ETimes, on being asked about what made her refuse certain films in the 90s, the Aranyak actress said, “No, I didn’t walk out from any. But very politely, I didn’t do films that I was not comfortable with. For example, Prem Qaidi was offered to me with [Daggubati] Venkatesh, but I didn’t do it, because there was a scene where there’s a zip opening and I was very, very young. For me, it was how can I do that in front of the camera? I will not be able to do this.”
Eventually, Prem Qaidi was made with Harish Kumar and Karisma Kapoor marking her debut with this musical film which was a remake of the Telugu flick, Prema Khaidi (1990).
Raveena told the publication that she turned down many film offers which later went on to become massive hits.
On being asked if she regretted turning down a part in Karan Johar’s romantic drama, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, the Shool actress said, “When Karan Johar came to me for Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, unfortunately, I was at a time when my career was zero. I was restarting my career after a sabbatical and I was messed up. I wanted to get back to the days of Mohra, Imtihan, Dilwale where I was the sole heroine. And here I was asked to play the second lead to someone who is my contemporary (Kajol).”
The actress said that till date, she and Karan are trying to work together and went on to reveal that they almost started a film. However, she has no clue whether it’s delayed or shelved.
“I explained to Karan to understand me and stand by me. I may have done Ziddi, Dulhe Raja etc. But after four or five such films, I got into Shool. That was Raveena 2.0. This is Raveena 3.0.”
On the work front, Raveena will next be seen in Ghudchadi alongside Sanjay Dutt, Parth Samthaan and Khushali Kumar.
