National Award-winning actress Raveena Tandon says she faced many difficulties in her professional life for speaking the truth and that it is hard to survive in the entertainment industry if a person is transparent and honest.
Apart from her craft, Raveena is known for her outspoken nature. Asked if she had to pay a price for it, she told IANS here: "Yes, I think at times it is challenging and hard to survive in the entertainment industry if you are honest. I faced a lot of trouble for that, where I have been thrown out of films. I have been called a liar and I have been treated badly."
"However, I stuck to being honest and treated people with respect... something that I have learnt from my upbringing. All I knew is that time will unveil the reality. Today, I live with a clear heart and sleep in the night with a clear conscience. So I have no regrets."
After making her Bollywood debut with "Patthar Ke Phool" in 1991, Raveena went on to act in films like "Dilwale", "Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi", "Aks", "Satta" and won a National Award for Kalpana Lajmi's "Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence".
The actress, who will soon be seen in "Maatr", believes that all women have a loving and caring nature that the world celebrates, but forgets about the inner strength that they possess. According to her, perhaps that is why the outer world thinks women are weaker -- which is untrue.
Since childhood, Raveena has been caring for wounded crows, stray dogs and cats.
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Sharing one such story, she said that once she put a kitten inside a fish tank assuming the kitten will catch the fish and eat them. "Oh God! I was probably three years old then. My mom shared that story, I cannot recall, obviously," she said with a laugh.
"I knew that cats eat fish and fish live in the water tank... that I saw in our house. Now, as a three-year-old kid, how would I know that like those fish, a cat does not swim? I put the kitten inside the tank and messed up everything. Quickly my mom came and rescued the kitten from the fish tank. I was really small to understand things."
Considering the fact that "Maatr", set for a May 21 release, is on social discrimination and physical violence against women, the actress emphasised on a strong judicial system and sensible parenting to deal with such situations.
It can't be denied that crime against women in our society is on the rise.
Asked if the lifestyle of parents and working mothers who don't get enough time to spend with their children are causative factors, Raveena said: "No, I don't think so. Statistics say that most of the children who are bullying any weaker living creatures like stoning a bird, breaking or throwing little puppies from rooftop at a very young age end up becoming criminals because they start taking pleasure in the pain of a weaker person or animal.
"So it should be taken care of at a very early stage of life. It is the responsibility of parents to develop a compassionate mind in their children. You could be a homemaker or a working parent; if you don't have a sharp observation of your child's behaviour, you can't do that. I see no reason to blame working mothers for that," she added.
(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in <mailto:arundhuti.b@ians.in>)
--IANS
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