“Remember SRK Saying...”: Raveena Tandon Reveals She Turned Down ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’. Here's Why
Raveena Tandon turned down ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’, which eventually featured Shah Rukh Khan and Malaika Arora.
Raveena Tandon, who has become the talk of the town ever since her web series ‘Karmma Calling’ premiered on Disney+ Hotstar, is arguably one of the most stunning Bollywood actresses. Over the years, Raveena Tandon has starred in several memorable films like ‘Mohra’, ‘Dilwale’, ‘Dulhe Raja’, ‘Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi’, among others. She also set many hearts racing with her dance numbers like ‘Tip Tip Barsa Paani’, ‘Shehar Ki Ladki’, and ‘Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast’. But did you know that Raveena Tandon could have been the 'Chaiyya Chaiyya' girl instead of Malaika Arora?
Raveena Tandon had the chance of doing the item song with Shah Rukh Khan. The Bollywood actress recently revealed that she did not want to get typecast, and hence she turned down the opportunity.
For the unversed, ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ was shot on the top of a moving train and the song was part of Mani Ratnam’s ‘Dil Se’. The song is still viewed as one of the best choreographed tracks when it comes to Indian cinema. The dance number was picturised on Shah Rukh Khan and Malaika Arora.
In an interview with BBC's Haroon Rashid, Raveena said, “I had just done Sheher Ki Ladki, right? And it had become a very big hit. Organically, Chaiyya Chaiyya came to me and I remember SRK saying that ‘Mani sir wants to talk to you because he wants you to do the song for us’.”
“And I was in a very awkward situation because although I was dying to work with Mani Ratnam Sir but then just being offered an item song again, it would have been stereotyping myself and in those days people used to get typecast, you used to get stereotyped,” she added.
Check out Raveena Tandon’s video here:
When she was asked, knowing the song's legacy, would she have made a different decision back then, Raveena Tandon said, “No no, I knew the song was rock solid. There were no two ways, you just had to hear the song and completely fall in love with it. It’s actually a difficult spot. I believe in the parallel life kind of thing.”
Raveena Tandon also revealed that she was supposed to do films like ‘Darr’, ‘Desi Babu English Mem’, and ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’. However, she turned them all down.
Coincidentally, all these projects starred Shah Rukh Khan in the lead roles. Talking about SRK, Raveena said, “I love him. He is one of the warmest people on this planet.”
Earlier, choreographer Farah Khan had revealed that Shilpa Shetty and Shilpa Shirodkar were also offered ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ song.
On the show ‘Moving in With Malaika’, Farah said, “Malaika was nowhere on the radar. We had approached Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Shilpa Shirodkar and two or three other people. One feared the prospect of climbing on top of the train, one was not available.”
