Manu Joseph dines Raveena Tandon on the sets of Stumped
It will be interesting to find out if any Hindi film director who has used the word ‘metaphor’ has ever given a hit but that’s a different story. As I wait for Raveena to finish the pre-lunch shoot, there is a familiar feeling of bad luck. Why couldn’t I have got this chance when she was shooting that famous wet-yellow-sari-rain-song sequence for Keemat? But too many good things don’t happen on a Sunday when the Jewish God takes his break. So, it is a very dry Raveena in decent blue clothing who takes the seat and waits for Nataraj Caterers’ film-set food.
Despite the rumoured egalitarianism on film sets, the truth is that stars don’t eat what others in the buffet queue do. "They get me steam fish, broccoli, tofu and mashed potatoes. I can eat that every day of my life." But today what a subservient man brings in is chapatis surrounded by bits of dal, palak paneer, grilled chicken, rajma, mutton curry and "lots of salad".
Raveena hardly eats as she excitedly talks about her film. "It’s about the ’99 World Cup and the Kargil war. What happens to five ordinary families in a colony as these two events unfold." She says the Kargil war deeply moved her. Raveena was among the celebrities who visited the fringes of the war zone. "I was very nervous. We flew in a helicopter over sensitive areas." Salman Khan too was in the chopper but he was not driving. "I heard later," she says with a shudder readily believing someone who told her this, "that every time Indians did well in the World Cup, the torture of our PoWs increased."
Raveena may appear a bit naive when she is discussing Kargil or the World Cup or her film that mixes the two but she is uniquely gifted with the ability to lethally snub an erring man. During an earlier meeting, she was being followed by a top businessman who seemed to be showing overt signs of interest. As he approached us, she introduced him saying, "meet my elder brother". The businessman’s face was a classic in the history of the downcast. But today I obviously don’t give her any reason to show off that gift. Also, she is too preoccupied describing her film. Suddenly she asks, "Do you think it will work?" "I don’t know," I say as she confirms there is no rain song sequence in the film.