Raveena Tandon Advocates for Social Awareness Through Art in "Patna Shukla" and Beyond

Actor Raveena Tandon feels that by using their art to draw attention to significant social concerns, artists may repay the love and admiration they receive from the public.

The performer said she attempts to bring up topics that she believes will at least spark a discourse. Most recently, she appeared in the Disney+ Hotstar film "Patna Shukla," which was centered upon the theme of roll number fraud.

"We all have done commercial hits in our lives but I have always believed that society has given us everything -- name, fame and status -- and at some point in our lives, we should contribute to society and this is the medium that we know the best," Tandon stated in an interview with PTI.

"I would feel like I have made a little contribution if, via this medium, I can raise awareness to a certain degree or convey a message that at least starts a discourse. For this reason, once or twice a year, I choose a single subject that I think will have an impact or that we should discuss," she continued.

Tandon plays Tanvi Shukla in "Patna Shukla," a movie about a small-time lawyer who becomes involved in the struggle for justice after discovering a massive roll number fraud that is hurting a lot of kids.

Positive reviews have been given to the courtroom drama, which also starred Anushka Kaushik, Manav Vij, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Jatin Goswami, and the late Satish Kaushik.

Tandon, 51, stated that the screenplay spoke to her personally and that she accepted the job as soon as producer Arbaaz Khan gave it to her.

"I had no idea that there was a roll number fraud like this until this script was shown to me. It was always on the back pages, which you simply thumb through without reading, and it was never in the headlines.

"It got me thinking that this is so relevant and this is something that needs to be spoken about because this is a scam that is stealing student's lives and future at the beginning." Given that Tandon and Khan are both parents, it felt especially necessary to bring attention to the problem.

"This is something that Arbaaz Khan and my kids, who are the same age as students, firmly believe in. It is necessary to have this talk.

"We continue to advocate for a youthful, robust, and educated India, but who is assisting these con artists? I believe that in order to aid these children who have nowhere to go, we need to provide a particular infrastructure," she continued.

Over the course of her more than 30-year career, Tandon has examined a variety of aspects of the working woman; Tanvi Shukla is another example of a character who successfully juggles motherhood and her job.

"I have deliberately endeavored to present various personas of employed women and the predicament they encounter while managing their personal and professional lives. Even in "Aranyak," her predicament was made very evident. Mothers and women are always expected to take care of their families—whether it be the in-laws, the kids, or the house. The men, meanwhile, are able to focus just on their jobs.

"I have always said that families have to rally around women who are working and be their wings to be able to help them achieve their dreams and excel in their workplace because that is what they want to do." After the successful debuts of "Aranyak" on Netflix and "Karmma Calling" on Disney+ Hotstar, Tandon is now working on three projects on the streaming service: "Patna Shukla" and "Aranyak."

The actor feels that because there is less pressure from the box office, the medium has "relaxed" many directors.

"Everyone wants their show or movie to be a hit, but those constraints that we have to encapsulate everything and establish every character in a cinematic form in two hours, that I think has relaxed the filmmakers a little and enabled them to experiment with the kind of stories they need to tell." Tandon's next film appearances include "Welcome to the Jungle," a comedy film costarring Paresh Rawal, Shreyas Talpade, Tusshar Kapoor, Suniel Shetty, Arshad Warsi, and Akshay Kumar.