"I wanted to place myself more as an actor"
Raveena Tandon has revealed why she declined Karan Johar’s offer to feature in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.
She also said that Karan is still not happy about her rejection, adding that Kajol was her “contemporary” and wanted to take lead roles just like her.
Raveena said: “Karan still does not forgive me for not doing Kuch Kuch Hota Hai but he did not understand at the time because Kajol was my contemporary.
“We started together, we both did lead roles, so I could not have done Kuch Kuch Hota Hai where I was at a lower, probably smaller role than Rani’s role which was a smaller role.
“Rani benefitted from it because she was a newcomer and suddenly she came across as oh my god, this is awesome, you know.
“So that was the difference that would have happened, and that’s what I told Karan.
“It was just that I wanted to place myself more as an actor rather than again doing something with just five scenes and five superhit songs.
“So even now, there are times when people, don’t look beyond me than my hit songs, actually it is a hindrance.
“Every time, I go people are talking about my songs, what about the performances?”
Meanwhile, Karan previously admitted that he was unhappy that leading actresses declined to act in the film.
He said: “I had asked everyone. I became a beggar already. Eight heroines had already rejected me for Rani Mukerji’s role.
“I thought if I don’t get anyone to act for Rani’s role then, I might end up wearing a short skirt to act in the movie.”
At an event in 2018 to celebrate 20 years of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Shah Rukh Khan called the film’s story “utterly nonsensical”.
He said at the time: “Karan came and narrated an utterly nonsense crap story to me; which is certainly not the one that finally you people saw in the film.
“In his strange way Karan, the man with many words tried to impress me with his crap story.
“So yes, I really did not understand the story when I signed in. and I am glad that I did not get into the story and just went ahead with the conviction of Karan, otherwise the film would have not been the way it came out.”
On the work front, Raveena Tandon was last seen in KGF: Chapter 2.