Raveena Tandon

Raveena Tandon (born 26 October 1974) is an Indian actress, model and producer. Daughter of director Ravi Tandon, she was born and raised in Mumbai. She started her career in modelling and later made her acting debut in the action film "Patthar Ke Phool", which won her the Filmfare Award for New Face of the Year.
In 1994, Tandon starred in five successful films including, the two the top-grossing films, the musical action dramas "Dilwale" and "Mohra". Her performance in the box office hit drama "Laadla" (1994), earned her a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her other notable film of the year was the cult classic comedy "Andaz Apna Apna". These accomplishments established Tandon as a leading actress in Hindi cinema. During this period, Tandon got engaged to her frequent co-star Akshay Kumar and stopped signing films in advance before the impending wedding and in process rejected several big films and roles that went on to become popular. Her films released in this period were mostly the ones which were finished before her decision to quit acting, which includes the box-office successes "Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi" (1996), "Ziddi" (1997) and "Ghulam-E-Mustafa" (1997). The first two of these were among the highest-grossing Indian films of their respective years.
After her engagement was called off, Tandon made a comeback by starring in a series of successful films such as "Gharwali Baharwali" (1998), "Bade Miyan Chote Miyan" (1998), "Dulhe Raja" (1998) and "Anari No.1" (1999), and garnered praise for her performance in the crime drama "Shool" (1999). In the early 2000s, she took on serious dramatic roles and ventured into arthouse cinema with roles in the 2001 films "Daman" and "Aks", both of which garnered her widespread critical acclaim. She won the National Film Award for Best Actress for the former while the latter won her the Filmfare Special Performance Award. Further praise came for her leading roles in the political drama "Satta" (2003) and the Sahara One television series "Sahib Biwi Gulam" (2004).
After her marriage to the film distributor Anil Thadani, she took a break from films and some of her delayed films were released during this time. Tandon ventured into television as a talent judge on several reality dance shows and hosted her own talk shows "Isi Ka Naam Zindagi" (2012) and "Simply Baatien With Raveena" (2014). After several years of hiatus, she starred in a leading role in the thriller "Maatr". Tandon is also an environmentalist and has worked with PETA since 2002. Tandon has four children, two adopted and two with her husband
Early life and background.
Tandon was born in Bombay (present-day Mumbai) to Ravi Tandon and Veena Tandon. Tandon is a niece of character actor Mac Mohan and thus a cousin of Manjari Makijany, his daughter. She has a brother Rajiv Tandon, who was married to actress Rakhi Tandon. She is also a cousin of actress Kiran Rathod. She started her career as a model.
Acting career.
Debut and early success (1991–94).
Tandon debuted with the film "Patthar Ke Phool" (1991) which was a hit; she received the Filmfare Award for Lux New Face of the Year for her performance.
Her next films "Mohra" (1994), "Dilwale" (1994) and "Laadla" (1994) were box office hits while the third from these earned her a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. "Mohra" and "Laadla" were the second and seventh-biggest hits of 1994, respectively. Her other releases of that year included the thriller "Imtihaan" and the cult comedy "Andaz Apna Apna".
Professional expansion (1995–99).
In 1995, she starred with Shah Rukh Khan for the first time in "Zamaana Deewana"; the film failed to do well.
Her career was back on track with hit films such as "Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi" (1996) and "Ziddi" (1997), both being big hits of their respective year.
She also received praise for her performance in Ghulam-E-Mustafa,another hit of the year 1997.
In 1998, Tandon had eight releases. Her last release of that year, "Bade Miyan Chote Miyan", co-starring Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda turned out to be the second biggest hit of the year. Tandon was offered the second lead in "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" which went on to be the biggest hit of 1998, but she turned it down. Her other releases of that year were "Gharwali Baharwali" which gained a below average status, "Vinashak", "Pardesi Babu" and "Aunty No. 1", all of which were unsuccessful.
In 1999, Tandon starred opposite Upendra in his self-titled Kannada psychological thriller film, "Upendra". She also received praise from critics for her performance in "Shool".
National Award and rise to prominence (2000–2006).
She worked in films such as "Shool" (1999), "Bulandi" (2000) and "Aks" (2001) won her huge acclaim. She won many awards as well as the Filmfare Special Performance Award for her performance in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's "Aks".
Her years in the industry paid off when she won the coveted National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in Kalpana Lajmi's "Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence" (2001), where she played a battered wife to an abusive husband. She surprised critics and audiences with her performance in the film and received much appreciation for her work. Critic Taran Adarsh said: "Raveena Tandon lends credibility to the role of a battered wife and walks away with the honours. The pathos she conveys through her expressions makes you realise that she's a performer of substance".
Since then, she has starred in a number of critically acclaimed films, such as "Satta" (2003) and "Dobara" (2004), but has not had much box office success. Her role as a middle-class woman thrust into the world of politics in the former was praised. Critic Taran Adarsh wrote: "Raveena Tandon delivers a bravura performance. The actress takes giant strides as a performer, giving the right touches to her character. Here's a performance that's bound to be noticed". Her role as a schizophrenic in "Dobara" was also praised with one critic saying: "Raveena is in sync with her character, playing her part with elaan". Her only release in 2006 was "Sandwich" which opened to poor reviews and reception.
Comeback (2014–present).
In 2014, she judged season 1 of "CEO's Got Talent" on CNBC TV18 with Mahesh Bhatt and Raj Nayak. In 2015, she made a comeback to Bollywood in longtime friend Anurag Kashayp's magnum opus "Bombay Velvet". Playing a sultry jazz singer, her brief performance was highly praised by critics. In 2017, she was seen in the thriller movie "Maatr" in which she plays a mother who seeks revenge for her daughter's rape. Her performance was lauded and she gained critical acclaim for her performance. Her next release of the year was Onir's "Shab", where she plays a socialite.
Off-screen work.
Tandon was chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India from 2003, but from 2004 the actress began to get complaints that she did not attend the organisation's meetings and that she was not involved with the activities set up by the society. In September 2005, Tandon resigned from her post citing personal reasons.
In November 2005, Tandon sued the websites, "Shaadi.com" and "Shaaditimes.com", claiming that they were using unauthorised images of her to promote the site. She also sued the owner of Satyanet Solutions, as they claimed that Tandon and her husband had met through the website.
In November 2002, Tandon sang to support "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals". She has posed in many advertisement campaigns joining the likes of John Abraham, Shilpa Shetty and Amisha Patel. On the issue of cows being slaughtered for their skin, she said "Their abuse at the hands of corrupt skin and meat traders must be stopped".
Personal life.
Tandon adopted two girls, Pooja and Chhaya, as a single mother in 1995 when they were 11 and 8-years-old, respectively.
She began dating film distributor Anil Thadani during the making of her film "Stumped" (2003). Their engagement was announced in November 2003 and she married Thadani on 22 February 2004, in Jag Mandir Palace in Udaipur, Rajasthan according to Punjabi traditions. In March 2005, Tandon gave birth to her daughter Rasha. In July 2008, she gave birth to her son Ranbirvardhan.