Raveena Tandon reveals she turned down Juhi Chawla’s role in Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Darr’

Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla were one of Bollywood’s most loved onscreen pairs through the 1990s and 2000s, delivering hits like ‘Darr’, ‘Yes Boss’, ‘Duplicate’ and ‘Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani’. But here’s a lesser-known fact - the role of Shah Rukh’s iconic ‘K..K..Kiran’ in ‘Darr’ wasn’t originally written for Juhi. In fact, Raveena Tandon was the first choice for the part.

The actress recently appeared on the ‘ANI’ podcast, where she revealed that she was approached for Yash Chopra’s ‘Darr’ before Juhi Chawla. Explaining why she didn’t take it up, Raveena shared, “‘Darr’ had come to me first. So, you were talking about that vulgarity and whether you didn’t do it. So, no, though it was not vulgar, there were some scenes that I was not comfortable with.”

She further elaborated, “Darr mein kuch aise pehle scenes the where, you know, woh tha kuchh. A couple of scenes thhe. Swimming costume main kabhi pehen ke nahi jaati thi. I would say, ‘No, I will not wear a swimming costume’. Yeah, kuch aise tha, matlab scenes that I was a little uncomfortable with.”

That wasn’t the only major film Raveena passed on. The actress revealed she was also the first choice for ‘Prem Qaidi’ (1991), which eventually became Karisma Kapoor’s debut film.

“Like ‘Prem Qaidi’ - in fact, the first film which I think Lolo (Karisma Kapoor) got launched with - was actually offered to me first. But even that had this one scene where the hero pulls down the zipper or something and a strap is showing. I was uncomfortable with that,” Raveena recalled.

Reflecting on those early years in the industry, she admitted, “So I used to be uncomfortable with a lot of things. I was very uncomfortable with proximity, with people whom I could not... I would not... I’d be very, very like this. I was a little uppity at that time, I think. Not snooty - I was never snooty - I was always like how I am right now only. So that’s why they treated me like a boy.”