Raveena Tandon has revealed that she was offered a role in Karan Johar’s directorial debut, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, but turned it down at the time. The actor shared that while she valued her friendship with Karan and appreciated the opportunity, she declined the role at the time because she did not want to take on a second lead at that stage of her career. Having already established herself as a leading heroine in the 1990s, Raveena said she wanted to continue positioning herself as a solo lead rather than restart her journey in a supporting part.
Raveena Tandon talks about rejecting KKHH
In a recent Zoom interaction, Raveena reflected on turning down the film, which marked the directorial debut of her close friend, Karan Johar. She explained that while she would have loved to be part of the project, the timing did not align with her career goals. At that stage, after the success of Mohra, she did not want to return to the screen in a second lead role.
“I had my reasons to reject certain films. For example, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Karan always says that you didn’t do my first film, but I tell him that I would have loved to do it, and you are my friend, but unfortunately, during that time in my career, I couldn’t have restarted my career by playing second lead after leaving at a point which was Mohra.”
Raveena shared that restarting her career required her to position herself strictly as a solo heroine, even if it meant doing fewer scenes or songs. She acknowledged that the role eventually worked well for Rani Mukerji, who was then a fresh face in the industry, but felt it would not have been the right move for her own trajectory.
She further added, “It was very necessary for me to start off, even if I have five scenes and five songs, but as a solo heroine. I had to restart my career like that, which was very difficult, but I was like, you have to do this. It worked for Rani Mukerji because she was a young and fresh face, but for me, it was not trying to start off from where I left off; that was a really difficult decision for me.”
Raveena’s career
Raveena, who began her film journey with Patthar Ke Phool, became widely popular for hit dance numbers like Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast-Mast, Tip Tip Barsa Pani, and Shehar Ki Ladki. Though her dance performances earned widespread acclaim, she revealed that she began receiving more offers for special dance numbers than for substantial acting roles. Determined not to be typecast, she declined many such opportunities to preserve her identity as a leading actress. Raveena will next be seen in Welcome To Jungle, alongside Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Arshad Warsi, Jacqueline Fernandez, Disha Patani, and others.
