Raveena Tandon refuses to do item numbers

Raveena Tandon is probably one of the very few actresses, who has had a very successful run with dance item numbers. The actress, who has been missing from action, since the birth of her daughter, is now all set to make a comeback and guess what, with an item number. “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to come back to films with an item number.

In fact, I had initially declined to do the number, but David Dhavan and Ram Gopal Varma (directors and close friends) persuaded me and said that I would be the perfect choice for a dance number like that. They convinced me to say a yes, and of course I did make an exception because it was Amitabh Bachchan too,” she smiles.

But it’s not only now that the actor was apprehensive about doing an item number. Raveena, apparently was also offered popular number Chhaiya Chhaiya that then went to Malaika Arora Khan and also a song in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, but she turned them down.

Revealing the real reason for turning down a song that went on to become a chartbuster, she says, “I must say that I have always been lucky when it came to my films and music. But having said that, I was scared that people would tag me as an item girl.”

While she does agree that every actor today is vying for an item number, she says the situation was completely different a couple of years back. “When I was doing a lot of these numbers, I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing, so I completely stopped taking up these songs and instead worked on brushing up my image of an actor. I wanted to be known for my films and not as an item girl, so it was a conscious decision to turn down all offers that poured in.”

This time too she took the step after a lot of thinking. “I wanted my other film, the one with a full-fledged role to release first as opposed to Buddha Hoga Tera Baap where I play a guest role. But I’m happy with the responses I am getting. It has been really encouraging.”