In an otherwise politically correct Bollywood, bold and beautiful Raveena Tandon isn’t afraid of getting trolled on Twitter when she speaks her heart and mind in public domain. One of the most outspoken actresses in India, she has never been the one to soft-pedal her opinion on politics, media or other social issues. In a revelatory mood, the National Award winner (Daman: A victim of marital violence in 2001), Raveena Tandon speaks exclusively with Nation Next about her strong views on fashion policing, Salman Khan’s media trial and more. Excerpts:

Usually actresses don’t prefer playing mature roles even if they hit their 40s but you seem to have broken the notion. In your mid-thirties, you played Amitabh Bachchans love interest and Charmy Kaurs mother in Buddha Hoga Tera Baap. Were you not insecure of getting stereotyped

No. In fact, even in my twenties, I had played Raima Sens mother in Daman: A victim of marital violence.

A lot was being said about your strained relations with Anurag Kashyap after Bombay Velvet. Apparently, you had a few scenes in the film, which were deleted by the editor of the film Thelma Schoonmaker. Why?

Nothing happened actually. Anurag is a friend, who came requesting me to do Bombay Velvet. I did that film free of cost for him. We did some beautiful work and my relations with Anurag were not strained because I think despite Anurag being the director, the film went out of his hands and someone else was editing it. I was just doing a guest appearance, which was kind of hyped. When media at that time asked me about my role in Bombay Velvet, I told them that it might be there or it might not be there. The minute I said this, the entire episode went into a different zone altogether. It was not my film. So, whats the big deal?

What kind of rapport do you share with Anurag now?

I haven’t seen him in the longest time. He seems to have kind of disappeared after Bombay Velvet but he has always been a friend and will always be my friend.

You are thick friends with Salman Khan. People close to him claim that hes changed a lot after the judgment in his hit and run? case?

I think Salman has definitely become more sensible but he has certainly not lost his sense of humor. Hes as much fun as he used to be earlier.

You said media crucified Salman during his court case. How do you think media has been unfair to Salman?

The day when the judgment in Salman’s case was supposed to come out, most of us were scared that the judgment could go against Salman. We all respect the judiciary. But is it a crime to not to desert a longstanding friend in his difficult times Whoever cared for him, thinking that we might not be with him for a while, went to meet him. And then the media was crucifying him and making fun of the fact that people were going to meet him. If a close friend or colleague of yours gets into a mess, won’t you be by his side? News channels were panning us for meeting Salman Khan and not meeting the victim that time. If we had met the victim’s family, media would have questioned our going there by saying that we were seeking sympathy for Salman. ?Why does Raveena Tandon have to go to meet the victim?? would have been the headline! It was a catch-22 for us! Our heart goes out to the person who lost his life, but why to put words in our mouth? The law did take its own course. Why did they put Salman through this media trial?

You are associated with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). But unlike a typical animal lover, you are a non-vegetarian. How do you explain that?

I believe that animals were born on this planet for a certain ecological reason. To keep the planet going, we need to respect all the living beings. I’m bothered about the way we humans are pushing animals out of their habitats by cutting down jungles. Basically, I work for animal issues and cruelty against animals. I’m kind of okay with the beef ban because I’m not fully non-vegetarian. I eat only eggs. I don’t eat meat, pork, crabs, etc. Over the years, I’ve gradually given up on it. But this argument of non-vegetarians not being animal lovers is a bit vague. The Bhagavad Gita also says that the food chain has evolved naturally for survival. For survival, man has to ultimately eat plants. When farms are ploughed, hundreds of earthworms and other creatures, who live below the soil, die. So, by that logic, even vegetarians would have to give up eating grains and vegetables. There are certain levels of consciousness for every living being and some of them are the part of the natural food chain cycle. I don’t wear leather as even The Bhagavad Gita says, Don’t kill for luxury.

You were also associated with traffic awareness about compulsorily wearing helmet in Mumbai. What would you like to say to those (quite a few in Nagpur), who don’t believe in wearing helmets for their safety?

What can you tell people who don’t wear helmets and are so stupid They are not kids. They will realise the importance of traffic awareness on their own but it would be a hard lesson to learn. People should wear a helmet because so many deaths are caused due to just not wearing helmets. Fortunately, the cops are doing their best by fining people for flouting the rules. People should realise that they are being fined for their own safety.

You were the President of Childrens Film Society of India. Whats your take on the violence and sex being doled out to kids via films and cartoons

Unfortunately, it’s not only films. Today, whether it is internet, digital media or even the smartphones, this kind of exposure is everywhere. Where you draw the line is important. Definitely, we still have adult films. We luckily have censorship and categorisation in films. I remember when my child was young, I came across a Chinese cartoon series (dubbed in Hindi), which had abusive words like saala, kutta, etc., which actually left me shocked.

The ?fashion police? have targeted you more than once for repeating your outfits

My question to all these so-called fashion critics, who don’t like us repeating our outfits, is that how many clothes do they have in their wardrobes Do they spend all their money for a single usage of an outfit? Is that what they are trying to teach peopleAs a result, college-going youngsters do not want to repeat their clothes in parties. This mounts pressure on their parents as these kinds of fashion entities are teaching the youth to not to repeat their outfits. I repeat my clothes and I don’t care about critics because clothes are so expensive. Nowadays, if you buy any good designer outfit, you are not paying anything less than one and a half to two lacs. Just for the sake of pleasing the ?fashion police, we can’t waste our hard-earned money by throwing away our outfits. What kind of an example are they (fashion police) trying to set?

You are one of the first actresses to do an item number in 90s (Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast in Mohra), which was quite a rage then. It landed you in soup when a lot of people felt women were objectified in the song. But today you have item songs that thrive on vulgarity?

At that time, Tu cheez badi hai mast mast was not really a so-called item song. Item songs have emerged now where only for that particular song or act, an actress does a guest appearance. Tu cheez badi hai mast mast was like a regular song, which evolved with the film. Music had a great role to play in films then. In fact, films would even thrive on music. That was the time when any super hit song from a film would become an item song. My song that I consider to be an item song is Sheher ki ladki, in Rakshak (1996), where I was not acting in the film and the song was not even relevant to the film. It was shot only to boost up the films music. Nowadays, item songs have different connotations altogether. They have become vulgar. You are considered regressive if you criticise today’s item songs and vulgarity. For instance, we have banned child porn, which is banned all over. Even developed countries have banned child pornography because it is a crime. But when we banned it in India, some stupid person gave a statement by saying that the government had put a blanket ban on pornography. And, all hell broke loose! Women liberation groups got active. I can’t understand their psychology. What do they really mean by being liberated Whenever we want to censor such kind of things, the ?liberation? theory is used in protest.