RAVEENA TANDON & I

Raveena Tandon Thadani turned 50 on October 26. I pen this nostalgia piece as my way of paying tribute to her on her birthday.

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In the glitzy world of Bollywood, where stars rise and fall, there's one name that has continued to shine brightly for decades: Raveena Tandon. Her journey is a fascinating tale of resilience, transformation, and triumph, and we're about to uncover some lesser-known facets of her life.

I remember meeting the young fat baby Raveena many times in the Ravi Tandon household in the good old days when there was a good camaraderie between journalists and filmmakers and often we used to drop in at their places, both invited as well as uninvited, either to interview them or just to while away our time and catch up over scotch on what is happening in the fraternity. Raveena's amicable father and filmmaker of films like Khuddar, Majboor, Nazrana, Anhonee, Khel Khel Mein etc was a generous host.

Ravi Tandon was indeed a rags to riches story. Believe it or not, the fact is that he had made his modest beginning in the film industry, believe it or not, as a peddler of door closers and made the transition from an assistant to a director to a producer-director. Exactly like his daughter Raveena Tandon, what set him apart from his other colleagues in the industry was his modesty and affable nature in spite of success which often transforms one in the industry.

I also remember at the party of Patthar Ke Phool at the Sun N Sand Hotel how Raveena asked me to explain how her leading man Salman Khan was and I sang the remix of the popular song of the same film penned by me as "Kabhi Woh Idiot Lagta Hai, Kabhi Woh Foolish Lagta Hai, Kabhi Woh Silly Lagta Hai Kabhi Woh Foolish Lagta Hai" because I could never get along with Salman right from the beginning and she had burst into laughter till I told her to control her laughter and pretend to be normal as Salman Khan was attracted by the commotion in our corner.