“I said no to many web series that went on to be hits” – Raveena Tandon

Raveena Tandon is cautiously jubilant about the success of her web series Aranyak. “I never go into anything with too much expectations. If it works, I am happy. If it doesn’t, I don’t sit and curse my kismet over it. Aranyak seemed special from the day it was narrated to me. I had earlier said no to so many web shows. Some of them went to be hits. I would sometimes wonder, did I make a mistake by saying no to those serials?”

Raveena has no regrets about saying no to so many serials. “I have no time or patience for regrets. I firmly believe what has to happen will happen at the right time. I never was the Friday-fever kind of star, shivering about the fate of my films every week. If they worked, and a majority of them did, fine. Or else better luck next time.”

Aranyak has surprised many cynics by its level of acceptability .So is this party-time for actresses above 40? “I feel the doors were opening even before the OTT took over during the pandemic. The new generation of actresses like Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt had so much more to do in their films than I had an opportunity to do. Back then when I did something like Shool or Daman I was criticized for breaking the commercial economics. If you did something out of the box you were seen as a spoilsport. I had to work so hard on convincing Ram Gopal Varma that I was right for the role of the Bihari housewife in Shool. He was like, ‘Raveena, when I close my eyes I don’t see you in that character.’”

For Raveena doors were opening even before the OTT explosion. “I was offered KGF 2 long before Aranyak on Netflix. I was supposed to be in Part 1 also. But at that point of time I was not sure if I wanted to be in a star-driven franchise. So they used my body double in Part 1. In Part 2 I am there in a significant role.”

Raveena is now considering other projects on OTT. “I am looking at scripts. Most of them are very interesting and they have powerful roles for me. But I have to think of other factors. My children and my husband, who is the biggest kid of them all, need my time and attention. At this juncture of my life I can’t be studio-hopping. I’ve nothing to prove.”