Raveena Tandon

Born: 26 October, 1974 in Mumbai

Biography: Raveena is the daughter of the famous filmmaker Ravi Tandon. Her name is a combination of her parents’ names ‘Ravi’ and mother ‘Veena.’ Raveena finished schooling from the prestigious Jamnabhai Narsee School in Juhu, after which she joined Mithibai College, Mumbai. But she dropped out of college half way to pursue her film career.

Raveena started off as a model and then made her debut with the film Patthar Ke Phool in 1991, but this film did not witness much success. She received the Filmfare Lux New Face Award for her debut movie. Subsequently, some of her other films like Laadla, Dilwale and Mohra were quite successful. But she failed to make a mark in films like Andaaz Apna Apna and Zamaana Deewana, though the thriller film Imtihaan performed moderately at the box office. But this did not let her down, and she made a comeback with films like Khiladiyon Ke Khiladi, Ziddi and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. Her other films include Ghulam -e- Musthafa, Aunty No.1, Dulhe Raja, Pardesi Babu and others.

Later Raveena shifted her focus to more realistic cinema. She appeared in films like Shool, Bulandi, Aks, Satta, Dobara and Daman. While Aks won her many awards including the Filmfare Special Performance Award and Bollywood Movie Award - Critics Award Female, Daman won her a National Film Award for Best Actress. At this time Raveena was at the peak of her career.

Raveena has also produced some films like Stumped and Pehchaan: The Face of Truth, but both failed commercially.

Apart from films, Raveena has been associated with some social causes, like she was a part of the ad campaigns for People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) alongwith stars like Shilpa Shetty, John Abraham and Amisha Patel. Raveena has matured to a great extent as to her quality of performances and selection of roles. She has surely carved a place for herself on the canvas of Indian cinema.

AKA & Alternative Spellings: Ravina Tandon, Raweena Tandon