Chandigarh pageant to Mandi aspirant, Kangana Ranaut stars in new role

Aditi Tandon & Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

New Delhi/Mandi, May 14

From a chance modelling break in Chandigarh to creating a niche in the Mumbai film industry to now making a foray into national politics, Kangana Ranaut’s rise has been phenomenal.

‘Queen’ files papers; net worth Rs 91.65 cr

With assets worth Rs 91.65 crore, including two Mercedes and a BMW in her fleet of swanky vehicles, BJP’s Mandi LS candidate in poll affidavit mentions Class XII as her educational qualification.

Gutsy woman, Recalls mentor

I remember Kangana as a gutsy woman who had left Supermodel Gladrags contest in Mumbai midway alleging bias. — Sunil Bansal, Chandigarh-based grooming guru

It was by sheer stroke of luck that a young Kangana, then a college student in Chandigarh, met UT-based grooming master Sunil Bansal in December 2003. “It was December 6, 2003. I was sitting outside on a bench in Sector 17, below my office compound. I spotted Kangana in denims. I stopped her and asked her to participate in my pageant. First she said she was not a girl who wanted to model but the next day she came and filled the form. The rest is history,” Bansal told The Tribune as Kangana filed her nominations as the BJP’s Lok Sabha nominee from Mandi.

Bansal had in those years started a beauty pageant, “Face of the Year”, to provide a platform to girls who wanted to model but were either short in height or were averse to a show of skin.

Ranaut was the runner-up of this pageant in 2003 and made headlines that year for a smart reply to a question she was asked by the jury, which included actor Raja Bundela. “They asked Kangana how she would distinguish between a diamond and a woman. Her reply was — naari naari hoti hai, heera heera hota hai (woman is a woman and diamond is a diamond),” he recalls.

Although Kangana, who earlier studied at DAV Public School, Sector 15, did not win her first pageant, she landed her first modelling assignment as the brand ambassador for Ayur Herbal.

“Ayur Herbal was my pageant title sponsor in 2003 and we decided to sign Kangana for the promotion of its new cream. She did magazine and then TV commercials,” remembers Bansal who made Kangana’s first portfolio and was responsible for her first modelling and later advertising break.

He remembers Kangana as a “gutsy woman who had left the Supermodel Gladrags contest in Mumbai midway alleging bias.” Kangana returned midway from the Gladrags contest in 2004 and decided to shift to Bombay. By 2005, she had met Anurag Basu and landed her first Bollywood break in the super hit flick “Gangster” (2006).

In Mandi today, the 37-year-old Bollywood Queen filed her papers against royal scion and Congress nominee Vikramaditya Singh in the presence of BJP top brass.

Clad in a pistachio green tissue saree, the actress was flanked by her mother, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur and state BJP president Rajeev Bindal as she arrived to file her papers. Not to mention the colourful Kulluvi cap that rested on her curly mane — something that has become her trademark look ever since she jumped into the dust and heat of the poll arena.

“Notwithstanding the name I earned for myself in tinsel world, I have always maintained connect with my home state and Mandi, and I shall continue to do so,” she assured, sensing questions being raised on her acting priorities. The outspoken actress whose past utterances have come back to haunt her in the election battlefield today steered clear of any controversial remarks.

Lauding the initiatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for all sections of society, Kangana cited provision for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Himachal Assembly in 2029. Aware of the presence of a sizeable number of serving Army personnel and ex-servicemen in her constituency, she broached the issue of “one rank, one pension”.

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