Misinformation and fake news aren’t solely a product of the digital age. They have plagued the media since its early days and public figures, mostly actors, have often been at its receiving end. In a recent interview, Bollywood actor Raveena Tandon recounted a harrowing experience when a magazine falsely reported her illness as a suicide attempt, tarnishing her reputation in the film industry.
Speaking to Mojo Story, Raveena revealed how she fell seriously ill while shooting for the 1998 film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan in Delhi. Recalling the ordeal, she said, “I was shooting in Delhi for the film Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. I went back to Mumbai for another film with Nana Patekar and I woke up that morning with a blasting headache and about 101 fever. Now, fever is something you quickly push aside. You pop up a crocin and you are at work. But it just started getting worse through the day.”
Raveena Tandon explained that a journalist named Meena Aiyar was covering her for Filmfare magazine during the day. Describing her deteriorating condition, she said, “Miss Meena Aiyar, who was the Editor of the Filmfare magazine at that time, was with me throughout the day. She was covering me for Filmfare for ‘the day in the life of a star’ thing. Seeing my condition, she was like, ‘How do you guys shoot under such circumstances?’ My headache started becoming so pounding that just before lunch break, I was getting down from the vanity van and my vision became blurry. Someone had to hold me. I told them at the lunch break that this is not normal, my vision is not focused and I have a headache. They told me to go home.”
Seeking medical help, Raveena was diagnosed with meningitis and admitted to the hospital. However, her ordeal didn’t end there. She said, “I called my doctor, told him the symptoms and he asked me to directly reach the hospital. Meena Aiyar accompanied me to the hospital and my parents also reached there. They ran tests and I had meningitis, the brain fever, and I was admitted and was on medication.”
Recalling the false article printed by a magazine about her suicide attempt, she said, “That month two magazines came out. Filmfare came out with minute-to-minute account of how I fell ill and how I was hospitalised. Stardust came out with this huge story of how I was at the shoot and I drank Tick 20 (a tablet for killing bed bugs) and I tried to commit suicide. This is the kind of rubbish we have dealt with.”
She went on to add, “I am not the kind who will commit suicide. I will take 10 down if I am going down. So, it was unbelievable.”
Upon returning to the shoot after 20 days of hospitalisation, Raveena Tandon encountered judgement and a wave of concern from junior artistes. “After I came back to the shoot after 20 days of being hospitalised, all the junior artistes were concerned. They told me, ‘Why did you do this? These things happen in life, why did you take this step?’ I was like, ‘I was sick, a mosquito bit me and I had brain fever.’ So people would form that impression of you at that time,” she said.
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