My Father Told Me To Be Nice To People While Climbing Ladder Of Success: Raveena Tandon

I happen to be ‘Papa's daughter’. Absolutely. I learned everything from him — honesty, humility, patience, and self-confidence, and whatever was there in his personality whether I was going through the worst phase in my personal life or my career.

I remember once he came on the sets of my film during my low phase and told me an important thing. He said when a child learns to walk, he falls many times, but he does not give up. Instead, he gets up, and starts taking small steps until he learns to walk properly. Similarly in life, we all have to learn to pull ourselves together regardless of the odds. He also stressed the need of holding our heads high in life.

Everything he said had deep meaning and made a great impact on me in my formative years. He used to say that when you meet someone, meet them with great respect by bowing down, but if the person in front tries to suppress you, you should not bow down so much that your spine breaks and you are not able to regain your stature. He would say that when you are climbing the stairs of success, be polite with people because when you come down, the same people will be holding the ladder for you.

My father was doing MBBS in Agra, but he ran away from home to Bombay midway because of his passion to work in films. He was the son of a high court judge and was on his way to become a doctor, but he faced a lot of hardship in his early years in the film industry. In the 1960s, he had to work as a junior artiste at a wage of only Rs 2. 

During the shooting of a historical film, he was made to stand in a crowd holding a spear where he also had to deliver a one-line dialogue. When his turn came, he fumbled which made the director furious. “I do not know where these people come from,” he shouted before throwing my father out of the sets.

Later, my father became an assistant to director R.K. Nayyar before getting a chance to direct Manoj Kumar's film Balidan (1971). One day while he was shooting, he saw a familiar face among the junior artistes during lunch break. He was dressed as a dacoit. Suddenly, my father was shocked to realise that he was the same director who had thrown him out of the sets of his film. 

My father thereafter went up to him and brought him back with great respect to have their meals together. My father told him, “Sir, I am directing a film for the first time, just see if I am doing it right or not.” Tears welled up in that man’s eyes when he heard it. He told my father, “Ravi, my blessings are with you. You will go very far in life.”

My family, incidentally, was the most “non-filmy filmy” family. After retirement, my father enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren and doing farming. If I possess even 10 per cent of his qualities, I will consider myself lucky. I would also like my children to imbibe all his qualities.

(Raveena Tandon is a noted film actor and her father, late Ravi Tandon, was a well-known filmmaker of his time. The piece is based on a conversation with Giridhar Jha.)