STRAIGHT SHOOTER RAVEENA TANDON

MARRIAGE AND MOTHERHOOD BROUGHT A RENEWED SENSE OF PURPOSE TO THE BEAUTIFUL ACTRESS, WHO NOW ANTICIPATES HER DAUGHTER'S DEBUT WHILE EMBARKING ON A NEW SHOW. HOWEVER, HELLO! FINDS THAT A BREAK HASN'T SOFTENED HER CUSTOMARY CANDOUR

-  PUJA TALWAR

Despite being a mother to an 18-year-old on the brink of her big screen debut, Raveena Tandon defies the stereotype of a typical star mother. With her age-defying beauty and infectious energy, she appears just as fresh as she did 33 years ago when she burst onto Hindi film screens in Patthar Ke Phool. With a glimmer of pride for her daughter Rasha in her deep kohl-rimmed eyes, Raveena addresses her daughter’s initiation into the industry she herself grew up in with her customary bluntness. “Make your mistakes and learn from them. It will be the hardest lesson for you, but that’s what will hold you in good stead,” she says, revealing that she has no words of wisdom to impart to her daughter or any newcomer on how to navigate the business. “It is important to stumble and fall. If I keep holding you before you fall, you’re never going to learn,” she says, practically. “At the end of the day, it’s the audiences that decide whether you’re here to stay or it’s time to pack up.”

Truer words were never spoken, as her winning career trajectory and journey stand testimony to that. Though from a film family herself (her father was producer-director Ravi Tandon), Raveena emphasises, “I was not a part of any film camps, I had no godfather guiding me. I have ended up irking people because I spoke my mind and was not a people pleaser. I bore the brunt of it for a while, but I am happy where I am.”

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