Actor and Animal Advocate Raveena Tandon Named PETA India’s 2025 Person of the Year
For Immediate Release:
08 December 2025
Contact:
Sanskriti Bansore; [email protected]
Anushka Yadav; [email protected]
Mumbai – In recognition of her vow to be meat-free, fierce dedication to protecting wildlife, tireless advocacy on behalf of community animals, and compassionate efforts to promote empathy for all living, feeling beings, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA India) has named award-winning Bollywood actor Raveena Tandon its 2025 Person of the Year.
Earlier this year, Tandon – alongside her daughter, actor Rasha Thadani – partnered with PETA India to give a life-sized mechanical elephant to Karnataka’s Thousand Pillars Jain Temple in recognition of its kind decision never to own or hire live elephants. Tandon has also been a champion of humane education, promoting PETA India’s award-winning Compassionate Citizen programme, which is designed to foster empathy in young learners by helping them better understand and appreciate animals.
Photos and video of Raveena and the trophy are available upon request.
Over the years, Tandon has taken on the homeless animal crisis, too, opening her heart and home to several adopted cats and dogs and rescuing others. She personally rescued a 2-month-old kitten from the busy streets of Mumbai, and she starred in a PETA India campaign urging everyone never to buy animals from a breeder or pet store.
A passionate defender of wildlife, Tandon sent a letter urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene on behalf of the panthers and other animals faced with the loss of their habitat as a result of a freight corridor project and called on authorities to take swift action after humans strangled a leopard in a village. She also joined PETA India in calling attention to the suffering endured by snakes, alligators, and other animals who are violently slaughtered for their skin and promoted plant-powered eating to her millions of social media followers by publicly calling on Burger King to open a fully vegan location in India or at least to offer vegan Whoppers.
“Through my association with PETA India, my heart has been opened to true empathy that does not differentiate between species. That’s because chickens, dogs, rabbits, and other animals want to live, just like you and me. They have consciousness and emotions, including fear and love, and are intelligent,” says Raveena, “I have taught my children the importance of compassion and empathy, too.”
“From speaking up for elephants, leopards, and panthers to whisking a kitten out of life-threatening danger, at every turn, Raveena Tandon has proved that animals can always count on her to come to their aid,” says PETA India Vice President of Celebrity and Public Relations Sachin Bangera. “PETA India is proud to celebrate her for seizing every opportunity to help make the world a more compassionate place for all.”
Past recipients of PETA India’s Person of the Year Award include Bollywood star Adah Sharma, former Supreme Court Justice KS Panicker Radhakrishnan, cricketer Virat Kohli, comedian Kapil Sharma, and actors Dia Mirza, Alia Bhatt, John Abraham, Anushka Sharma, Sunny Leone, Sonakshi Sinha, R Madhavan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Hema Malini, and Sonam Kapoor Ahuja.
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow PETA India on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
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