Raveena Tandon made her mark as a successful mainstream heroine in the ’90s. Her mast mast act from the film Mohra (1994) still lives on not to forget her other hit masala entertainers like Dilwale, Bade Miya Chhote Miya and Dulhe Raja to name a few. Her last outings were Maatr and Shab in 2017. Now the actress is making her debut in the OTT space with the upcoming web series Aranyak that starts streaming on Netflix from 10 December. Set in a small hilly town named Sironah, the intriguing thriller deals with a local police officer, Kasturi Dogra (played by Tandon) on her way out but she suddenly finds herself investigating a high profile case as she is ready to be replaced by another police officer. Parambrata Chatterjee, known for his work in Vidya Balan’s thriller Kahani, will be seen in the role of cop Angad Malik, who arrives in Sironah to replace ‘Dogra’. The series, directed by Vinay Waikul, also features Ashutosh Rana and Meghna Malik in important roles.
In the early years of her career, Tandon often spoke about her dream to be a cop, and to don the uniform even if it was for reel life was enough to excite the actress, who, in the last many years, has been extremely selective in choosing films. “There are so many films I have been refusing. I have even said 'No' to so many friends of mine but I jumped at this one because this is something that I always wanted to play all my life -- a cop. I have often said that it was always my dream to be a cop. Kiran Bedi was my inspiration and I wanted to sit for an IPS exam after my XII. To play someone who is this talented, fierce, passionate cop, she is pahadi, she has a brain and she is brawny as well…it was just a complete mix of who I am a little bit and the character that Kasturi Dogra is,” says Tandon.
“…she is a mother as well, she comes across the biggest case of her life for which she has to do this entire juggling to run the household,” she adds further explaining her character.
Incidentally, the series has been co-produced by Sippy films (Ramesh Sippy and Rohan Sippy) and 30 years back Tandon had made her film debut with Patthar Ke Phool which also came from the Sippy stable. “Life has come full circle because I started my film debut with Sippy films and now I am doing my OTT debut with Sippy films again. It is destiny, it was meant to be,” she says.
Tandon may have been part of big commercial blockbusters but the actress often tried to shake off the masala tag and made a conscious decision of being part of ‘meaningful’ cinema like Satta, Shool, and Daman, a film that deals with marital violence for which she won a National award. Aranyak, too, gives a strong message to society even as she may not identify with her character completely, says Tandon. “In fact, it was necessary for me to do this series. I have always chosen films and content that has some kind of message for women empowerment. My character Kasturi here is a subtle bit of feminine and feminist as well. She is maternal, she is nurturing, she loves her kids but she is torn between the job she is passionate about and her family. There is no emotional support coming from her family, she is facing constant taunts but she doesn’t want to lose the opportunities that are coming her way. But there are sacrifices to be made and how she overcomes all that. So I am sure women in our country who are always juggling work and family will identify with her. We are lucky, we have emotional support, we have families backing us to let us go out and fulfil our dreams but there are so many Kasturi Dogras out there who don’t get that kind of support. I might not have identified with her but I felt for her,” says Tandon.
She furthers, “Message goes out to families to share responsibilities and give her the wings to fly whether she is in navy, airforce, police force, traffic regulation force... There are multiple responsibilities over women. Take for instance, a woman regulating traffic, after doing several household chores she stands in the sun the whole day and comes back in the evening to start all over again. For me, all women in uniform are superheroes, they are superwomen. This is all the more I wanted to do Aranyak.”
Aranyak was not an easy shoot, says Tandon considering it was shot in the midst of a pandemic and that too during winter in Himachal Pradesh. “But our safety protocols were so good that we didn’t have a single incident of Covid positive throughout whereas we heard of many cases among other units shooting in Himachal those days. We have shot in such heavy snowfalls, we would be running in snowfalls. Our lips would freeze and we would struggle to say our dialogues. When the shot was cut we would run towards angithi (fireplace). It was a tough shoot but we enjoyed every bit. And the visuals are so stunning that it is all worth it,” she says.
While Tandon believes that both, cinema and OTT will co-exist and that comparisons cannot be drawn between the two, she feels the magic of big screen will never fade. “Sooryavanshi has proved it. Unlike other countries, cinemas and malls are the most important outlets for entertainment in India. People love the magic of theatres, the big screen, it is altogether a different experience, and now there is entertainment for you at home as well. I don’t think OTT will ever kill cinema and vice versa, both will co-exist. Since the 80's we have been hearing that theatres will die. The minute video cassettes came out it was assumed that now people will watch films at home and stop going to theatres. Then came colour TV, innumerable entertainment channels, GEC came in, there were all these saas-bahu shows that were being lapped up and it was felt theatres would die. Then came DVDs, laser discs, YouTube channels and now OTT but cinemas have survived,” says the actress, who wants to balance between cinema and digital. “I have completed KGF 2, I have another film which I finished shooting in August and I have signed a few more for theatrical release,” she says.
Though Tandon didn’t find much difference in the shooting process between films and OTT, she definitely felt the advantages in portraying her character for the series. “The minute the camera goes on you give it your best, you don’t think about what screen it is going to be on but with these kinds of shows there are no restrictions of encapsulating everything in two hours, and you are not stressed by the box office numbers. You can have eight episodes, you can experiment and there are no constraints of public acceptance, or do we have to put in item numbers, all those pressures are not there. As actors, we get the time to get into the character and live the character well. It was far more liberating for me because it gave me more scope to put those nuances that I might have probably overlooked in films. There was an opportunity to make the character wholesome,” she says. She signs off saying, “Honestly, it hasn’t sunk in yet, I am thoroughly excited about this show. My kids are very kicked. They said, ‘Mom, you are doing a show for Netflix, that is so cool. Chalo , I got approval (laughs).”
Seema Sinha is a Mumbai-based mainstream entertainment journalist who has been covering Bollywood and television industry for over two decades. Her forte is candid tell-all interviews, news reporting and newsbreaks, investigative journalism and more. She believes in dismissing what is gossipy, casual, frivolous and fluff.
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source https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/raveena-tandon-on-her-character-in-netflixs-aranyak-shes-maternal-nurturing-but-torn-between-job-and-family-10191861.html
