Aamir's pranks and 'silly' ego issues with Karisma make Andaz Apna Apna special for Raveena

"Madam is going out of station with a packed schedule so we doubt she will talk... You can sms and request her though," said Raveena Tandon's PR manager, when we approached for this interview. Her flight was just about to take off when we texted her the three magic words: Andaz Apna Apna. As soon as she landed, not only was Raveena most gracious to call back, but she literally opened her heart out like an excited teenager, and shared with us some of the most priceless (read hilarious) moments from the making of Rajkumar Santoshi's cult film that completes 20 years today.

"The funniest thing was we were all very young and immature, and had our weird ego issues so most of the time all four of us were not talking to each other. But whenever we had to shoot those comic scenes, we'd instantly get into the mode. And some of the dialogues were so funny that after the scene we'd all crack up, and we realised that all this fun and laughter was beyond our trivial issues!" recalls Raveena, who was paired in the film with Aamir Khan while actor Karisma Kapoor was paired with Salman Khan. "Salman and I were  friends because by then we had already done Patthar ke phool (1991) but with Aamir I was working for the first time, and he was the biggest prankster on the sets. He'd join hands with Saroj ji (choreographer Saroj Khan) and Raj (director) to pull my leg," says Raveena laughing, as she recalls an incident from the shoot of the famous horse-driven tonga song, Elo ji sanam. "We were shooting on this moving tonga, and I was brushing my hair when Aamir came with a cup of tea asking,'Ravs, tu chaye peeyegi?' And before I could answer he dropped the cup and saucer on me, and I shreiked thinking hot has fallen on me when Aamir and Saroj ji burst out laughing! Guess what, he had actually tied an empty cup with the saucer just to play a prank on me!" remembers Raveena, further revealing how she retaliated by getting back at Aamir the same evening. "We were winding up and Aamir stepped out to address his nature's call. I  told Saroj ji that you will have to help me now and give Aamir a very complicated step and tell him that the shot will be taken today itself. So when Aamir came back, Saroji told him about it. He was zapped, but agreed and called me to practice. Saroj ji said, Raveena has already picked up the step. So for a good 15-20 minutes Aamir practiced that difficult step, while everyone else had left. And then he was told that he has to actually perform it by standing on the top of the tonga. Aamir was completely taken aback but then he boarded the tonga and started off even as our cameraman Ishwar Bidri, whom we had already roped in as part of our plot, started rolling an empty camera.... Aamir was performing with all his expressions and Raj, Saroj ji, I and the entire unit we were laughing our hearts out! That's when he realised and we shouted saying, 'We fooled you!'"

Raveena, who thereafter went on to deliver several hits including Dilwale (1994), Mohra (1994), Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996) and Ziddi (1997), and even won the National Film Award for Best Actress in 2001 for her performance in Kalpana Lajmi's Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence, says that those were the days when film shoots were like picnics unlike now where technology has engulfed our lives. "During those days when we shot in a forest or outstation locations, between shots we'd sit together, chat and bond...we all would know what is happening in each others' lives. Now, we get inside our respective vanity vans or be on Twitter or WhatsApp or just fiddle with our phones," rues the 40-year-old, who however agrees that technology has it good sides, too, especially when it comes to clarifying stuff through social networking sites. A case in point: Raveena and Karisma's infamous catfights on the sets of Andaz Apna Apna as reported by the media, then. "We never had any catfights! I was around 18 and Lolo (Karisma's nick name) was 16 or so...like any normal teenager we just had some ego issues. It was actually funny... We wouldn't talk to each other but if I  got orange juice from home, I'll go to her and say,'Here, mom has sent this for you' or if she got gulab jamoon, she'd come and tell me, 'Here, this came from home, would you like to have?'. So, it was normal, like the kind of ego hassles even colleagues might have in offices, but there was never any catfight. Infact all that was reported about both of us being linked with a particular male actor and our fights were all lies... unfortunately there was no way we could clarify that because when one magazine would publish something, only if another rival magazine would agree to publish our side would the truth come out, and that too might be buried in some corner of a page. Now, all you need to do is just post a tweet stating the fact!" says the actor, who is however great friends with her erstwhile arch rival and costar Karisma, now. "Thanks to Amit ji's (Amitabh Bachchan) Diwali parties, where sometimes we bump into Aamir and Salman, but Lolo and I  are regularly in touch. Her daughter Samaira and my daughter Rasha are in the same school. Lolo and I laugh when we think of those rumours now. Over the years we've become really thick. In fact we've been planning to watch this film together on the DVD, too. Lolo, me and our kids," says Raveena as she once again delves into nostalgia, talking about their "silly fights". "During the last sequence when Crimemaster Gogo Shakti Kapoor is seen trapping us, Lolo and I had to be tied together with the same rope. So after the scene, Raj and everyone is just walking out for lunch break and we are like, hello... First open us, and Raj is like, unless you both stop your silly fights and become friends, I'm not going to open that knot!" says Raveena as we wrap up the conversation. 

Article credits: Debasmita Ghosh, HT City