Raveena Tandon says she lost many films because she wanted her clothes on even in rape scenes

Bollywood actor Raveena Tandon did not compromise on her values even if it meant upsetting filmmakers and losing films back in the 1990s. The Andaz Apna Apna actor spoke about the certain conditions she had in place before taking on any film and one of them was that she would stay fully clothed no matter what – even if it was a rape scene.

From dance steps to kissing and rape scenes to swimming costumes, Tandon, in conversation with ANI, shared a list of things that she was uncomfortable doing and took a stand against. “I used to be uncomfortable with a lot of things. For example, dance steps. If I was uncomfortable with something, I would say, ‘Listen I am not comfortable with this step’ and I would not do the step,” she said.

“I didn’t want to wear swimming costumes, and I didn’t do kissing scenes. So I had my fundas (rules). I was the only actor who had a couple of rape scenes with not even one tear in the dress. All my clothes used to be fully intact.”

Her demands, although reasonable, made a lot of filmmakers furious and they’d call her “arrogant” for the same. Tandon also shared how she lost “a lot of films” because she refused to do certain scenes. Recalling such instances, she said, “I used to say ‘Mera dress phatega nahi… tum karlo rape scene agar karna hai’ (You do the rape scene if you want, but my clothes won’t be torn) and they used to call me arrogant.”

Tandon also revealed that Karisma Kapoor’s debut film Prem Qaidi was first offered to her, but she rejected it as there was a scene in which “the hero pulls down the zipper and the strap is showing.” Another such example was the 1993 Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla starrer Darr.

“Darr had come to me first, though it was not vulgar, but earlier there were some scenes in Darr, I was not comfortable with. I never used to wear a swimming costume. Even Prem Qaidi, the first film with which I think Lolo (Karisma Kapoor) got launched, was actually offered to me first. But even in that, there was just one scene where the hero pulls down the zipper and the strap is showing, I was uncomfortable with that,” she exclaimed.

On the work front, Tandon was last seen in KGF: Chapter 2. She has Ghudchadi with Sanjay Dutt in the pipeline along with Arbaaz Khan’s Patna Shukla. Earlier last year, she also made her streaming debut with Netflix’s Aranyak.