Raveena Tandon says Govinda would regularly arrive 5 hours late on set, but she can’t ‘blame’ him: ‘I’d take my beauty sleep during that time’

Govinda and Raveena Tandon starred in several hit films of the 90s, including Aunty No 1, Rajaji and Dulhe Raja.

Mumbai | May 20, 2023 09:16 AM IST

3 min read

Actor Raveena Tandon has opened up about Govinda coming fashionably late to movie sets. (Photo: Raveena Tandon, Govinda/Instagram)

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Actor Raveena Tandon said she never had a problem with her frequent co-star in the ’90s, Govinda, being late on sets, as she would use that spare time to catch up on “lost sleep” and be ready to shoot a scene “fresh” whenever he would reach — usually hours late. The duo starred in several hit films in the ’90s, including Aunty No 1, Rajaji and Dulhe Raja. In an interview with ETimes, Raveena said she would always reach the set on time and be ready to shoot.

“I have been known to be a produce’s actor, a director’s actor, I feel a director is the boss, and I feel if a producer has taken my dates, it is my job to be there on time. I would reach the set at 9, knowing that he (Govinda) would come at 2.30-3. I would get ready, do my make up, get into my costume, and used to go to sleep, read a book or catch up on my lost sleep because in those days we used to do three-four shifts in one go,” she said in the interview.

Raveena said it wasn’t that Govinda would come late and delay the entire schedule. The actor said he was so swift at his job that a scene which would have taken a day to film, he would complete in an hour. Raveena said producers knew his style of working, and had no problem with it either, as his films came with the assurance of being box office hits.

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“So one really can’t blame him or them. They were all feeding off each other to a certain extent. So, I would never blame him. I would take my beauty sleep during that time and then they’d wake me up half an hour before he reached the set. I would get up, do my touch up and be completely fresh. I enjoyed that,” she added.

During an appearance on Maniesh Paul’s podcast last year, Govinda had responded to rumours of him being unprofessional and tardy. Defending himself, Govinda had said, “When you’re successful, there are many who’ll try to pull you down. When I was at the peak for 14-15 years, when everything was going in my favour, nobody raised these issues… This is the film industry, people change with time, and so do equations.”

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