Rajiv Rai responds to Akshay Kumar and Raveena Tandon affair during Mohra: ‘Whatever I later heard, I was pleasantly surprised…’

Rajiv Rai opens on Akshay Kumar and Raveena Tandon affair

Rajiv Rai, the director behind cult classics such as Tridev, Gupt, and Mohra, has finally addressed the persistent buzz regarding a rumored romance between Akshay Kumar and Raveena Tandon during the filming of the 1994 blockbuster.

In a recent interview with Vickey Lalwani, Rai was asked whether he had any inkling of a relationship while shooting iconic tracks like Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast and Tip Tip Barsa Paani.

With a wry smile, Rai replied, “I wasn’t sitting there with binoculars, was I?”

Pressing on about detecting chemistry or body language clues, he elaborated: “There’s no question about it… There are 100‑200 people on set. Every actor has to be well‑behaved. A heroine has to maintain her reputation. Don’t you think she knows there are a thousand eyes watching her? So, to be very honest, I never saw anything. Whatever I later heard, I was pleasantly surprised like, is this really true?"

Emphasising that any speculation arose only post-release, Rai stated firmly: “It all came out later. People ask if it happened during Mohra, but it had nothing to do with the film.”

In the 1990s, Akshay and Raveena were one of Bollywood’s most talked-about pairs—briefly engaged and widely rumoured to be involved off-screen.

Yet in a separate interview with ANI, Raveena addressed lingering public fixation on her past with Akshay, remarking: “Once I had moved out of his life, I was already dating someone else, and he was already dating someone else, so kahan se jealousy ayegi?"

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She went on: “Girls have been changing their boyfriends every week in colleges, but one engagement that has broken is still stuck to my head, I don’t know why. Everyone moves on."

Today, Akshay Kumar is happily married to Twinkle Khanna, while Raveena married producer Anil Thadani in 2004.

With Rajiv Rai’s comments, the rumours surrounding their much-publicised pairing now find clarity: on-screen chemistry, yes—but no confirmed off-screen romance during Mohra's production.