Graceful Diva: RAVEENA TANDON's biography

Raveena Tandon is an Indian actress, producer, and a former model. She has primarily worked in Bollywood films, though she appeared in a few Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada films as well.

Raveena Tandon was born 26^th October 1974 in Mumbai, to filmmaker Ravi Tandon and Veena. Her name Raveena by combining Ravi and Veena, her father and mother’s name repectively.

She attended Jamnabai Narsee School in Juhu and studied at Mithibai College. She completed her first and second years at the college. During her time as an intern, she got her first film offer from Shantanu Sheorey which she accepted. She dropped out of college and decided to pursue her film career.

Her father was a producer and director of some films in the 1970s and 1980s. She has a brother named Rajiv Tandon, who had a brief career in Bollywood films as Raaj Tandon. One cousin, Kiran Rathod is a South Indian actress. One other cousin, Reshma Singh, acted in television serials. A third cousin, Vishal Singh, is a successful actor for television serials.

Raveena Tandon debuted in Bollywood with Anant Balani’s ‘Patthar Ke Phool’ (1991), opposite Salman Khan. The film won her the first Filmfare Award of her career, ‘Filmfare Lux New Face Award’. The next year, she was seen in Parampara, while 1993 saw her starring in movies like ‘Ek Hi Raasta’, ‘Divya Shakti’ and ‘Pehla Nasha’. However, none of them provide to be too successful at the box office. The next major films came Tandon’s way in the form of ‘Mohra’ (1994) and ‘Dilwale’ (1994).

In the year 1994, she was also seen in ‘Laadla’, which, though not a huge hit, got her a Filmfare nomination as Best Supporting Actress. ‘Zamane Se Kya Darna’, ‘Insaniyat’, ‘Aatish’, ‘Andaz Apna Apna’, ‘Imtihaan’, ‘Main Khiladi Tu Anari’ and ‘Saadu’ were her other films that released the same year. In 1995, Tandon was paired with Shahrukh Khan for the first time, in the movie ‘Zamana Deewana’. However, it remained unsuccessful at the box office. None of her subsequent films of the year did well.

In 1996, Tandon found a hit in the form of ‘Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi’, which was followed by the success of ‘Ziddi’ (1997). Amongst her eight releases lined up for 1998, ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’ was the most successful. Other movies that she did that year were ‘Gharwali Baharwali’, ‘Vinashak’, ‘Pardesi Babu’ and ‘Aunty No. 1’, all of which failed to make a mark at the box office. She was also offered the second lead in ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, but turned it down. The film went on to become the biggest hit of 1998.

The 2000s saw Tandon leaving the arena of commercial cinema and moving towards art film directors and realistic cinema. In 1999, she did E. Nivas’ critically acclaimed ‘Shool’, with Manoj Bajpai. This was followed by her performance in ‘Bulandi’ (2000) and ‘Aks’ (2001), with her performance being appreciated in both of them. The latter one also got Tandon Filmfare Special Performance Award, along with Star Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress, Bollywood Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress and Bollywood Movie Critics Award, Female.

In 2001, she also did Kalpana Lazmi's ‘Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence’. Touted be one of her best performances ever, the movie bagged her National Film Award, for Best Actress. This was followed by other critically acclaimed films, like ‘Satta’ (2003) and ‘Dobara’ (2004). Tandon was last seen in a commercial film ‘Sandwich’ (2006), with Govinda. She has also ventured into production with films like ‘Stumped’ (2003) and ‘Pehchaan: The Face of Truth’ (2005), neither of which turned out to be box office successes.

Before getting married to Anil she had an affair with co-star Akshay Kumar. However, the relationship did not last long.

She adopted two children Pooja and Chhaya as a single mother in the 1990s.

Tandon began dating film distributor Anil Thadani during the making of her film Stumped (2003). She married Thadani on 22 February 2004. She gave birth to a baby girl called Rasha on 16 March 2005. She gave birth to her second child, a baby boy named Ranbir on 12 July 2007.

In November 2005, Tandon sued the websites, Shaadi.com and Shaaditimes.com, claiming that they were using un-authorized images of her to promote the site. She also sued the owner Satyanet Solutions, as they claimed that Tandon and her husband had met through the website.

The actress fought with Karisma kapoor during the film Andaz Apna Apna it was widely published in the newspapers.