Raveena Tandon opens up on rejecting Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, reveals she could not play second fiddle to Kajol – Times of India

In an interaction with PTI, the actor, wife and mother talked at length about turning down a role in Karan Johar’s directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, that eventually went to then newcomer Rani Mukerji. Speaking about the same, Raveena said that she wanted to transition to more serious roles, after playing such poorly written characters for women in the course of her career. She also thought it would not be appropriate to play second fiddle to Kajol, who was her contemporary at that time.

She said, “Karan still doesn’t forgive me for not doing Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. But he didn’t understand at that time, Kajol was my contemporary. We started together, we were both doing lead roles. So, I couldn’t have done a Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, where I was at a lower… where I probably had a smaller role like Rani. And Rani benefitted from it because she was a newcomer. That was the difference that would’ve happened at that time, and that’s what I told Karan.”
The role eventually went to Rani Mukerji, who was hugely appreciated for her act, managing to hold her own in the presence of huge stars like Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan.

On the workfront, Raveena garnered rave reviews for her OTT series Aranyak in 2021. She will now be seen in Patna Shukla and Ghudchadi.