Bollywood’s iconic actresses Raveena Tandon and Karisma Kapoor have long been associated with a healthy dose of competition in the industry, owing to their strikingly similar career paths. Fans often find themselves drawing comparisons between the two talented stars. However, in an exclusive interview with Lehren Retro, Raveena Tandon addressed the topic of competition and clarified her stance.
Raveena firmly denied any notion of a competitive rivalry with Karisma Kapoor, stating, “I have always believed in healthy competition, and I have never been a cutthroat person. To this day, no one in this industry can probably say, ‘Raveena got me removed from this project’ or ‘Raveena refused to work with a newcomer or a new director.’ I always remind people that I was once a newcomer myself, and if others hadn’t given me a chance, I wouldn’t be where I am today. So, everyone deserves that opportunity. I have never engaged in such political maneuvering or groupism.”
However, Raveena did open up about the unfortunate reality of losing out on film projects due to the politics within the industry. She candidly shared, “I have lost many films I was supposed to do, like ‘Saajan Chale Sasural,’ which I was supposed to do with David and Chichi (Govinda). I had also signed ‘Vijaypath,’ among two or three other instances of such politics.”
Interestingly, Bollywood producer Farah Khan, who previously appeared on KJo’s ‘Koffee With Karan,’ recounted a light-hearted yet memorable incident involving the two actresses during the filming of a song sequence in director Sanjay Gupta’s film ‘Aatish.’ Farah humorously revealed, “I was once doing a song with Karisma Kapoor and Raveena Tandon, long ago, in a film called ‘Aatish.’ They were both having some kind of teenage spat. They were hitting each other with their wigs. They were wearing wigs with plaits and beads in them. One was hitting, the other was stamping her foot with her heel. It was quite childish. I am sure they will laugh about it now,” she shared, as reported by KoiMoi.