The conquests of a Bollywood Queen

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Saibal Chatterjee

Three-time National Award-winning Bollywood star Kangana Ranaut has never had it easy. But as an independent-spirited woman and an actress of substance who has dared to choose her own career path, the 29-year-old is a unique phenomenon in a movie industry known for crushing rebels into submission.   

Male-dominated Bollywood is wary of women who speak their mind. Yet Kangana, in the 10 years and a bit that she has been in the business, has always done her own thing, in her own way. Not that she hasn’t got into trouble as a result. “I have had a rollercoaster ride in Bollywood,” she says. “It has certainly not been easy, but I have no reason to regret any of the moves that I’ve made thus far.”

Kangana has been in the news lately for her messy public spat with superstar Hrithik Roshan. Not only has the aftermath of the liaison triggered a legal tangle, it has also put the actress at the receiving end of mindless name-calling. Witch, bitch, psychopath, dysfunctional woman — these are some of the labels stuck on her: a sure sign that she is not a pushover who will ever give men in the industry the pleasure of using her and then riding roughshod over her.

“Bollywood is obviously not an easy place to survive in, but I’ve held my own all these years and never thrown in the towel. I’m not looking for acceptance. I’m just looking for good roles. I try to stay positive no matter what comes my way,” says Kangana.    

“I’ve got here without working with any of the big Bollywood heroes. Thanks to the commercial success of my films, I have managed to become a ‘hero’ in my right,” she says.

And that is certainly not an exaggeration. The star of films like Tanu Weds Manu, Queen and Tanu Weds Manu Returns is the only Bollywood actress of her generation to bag three National Awards and have films written and produced with her as the fulcrum. But Kangana does not see herself as a feminist, who is rewriting the Bollywood rules. “Yes, I believe in living life on my own terms, but I’m not a conscious feminist,” she says. “Having come to Mumbai from a remote part of Himachal Pradesh, I’ve merely learnt to respond to my inner urges. That is always my best defence mechanism.”

Kangana relocated to Delhi and did a brief stint in theatre. Thereafter she headed for Mumbai and set herself up in the metropolis. In her Bollywood debut in 2006 in Anurag Basu’s Gangster, she was cast as an alcoholic woman caught between two men. While the performance struck a chord with its delicate mix of fragility and rebelliousness, it also became a millstone around her neck. She was only a few films old when she bagged a National Award for her supporting role as a self-destructive ex-supermodel in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion, but she seemed to be stuck in a rut playing an emotionally and psychologically troubled woman in film after film. 

In her early film outings — Woh Lamhe, Life in a… Metro, Fashion, Raaz —The Mystery Continues and Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai — she was typecast as a tormented actress or an exploited model battling her inner demons.

The range of roles offered to her was constricted and it slowed down her progress in the industry.  

When Kangana plays a schizophrenic actress in Woh Lamhe or a self-destructive drug-addict in Fashion, there is a certain rawness in the performance that enhances the impact of the character. It was the breezy romantic comedy Tanu Weds Manu that set Kangana free. Not only did the film pull her career out of the dumps, it also helped her move out of the pigeonhole that she was stuck in.  

However, Vikas Bahl’s delightful Queen was the turning point.  The film brought together the spirit of a romcom with the sly and dark edge of a story of a single woman on a voyage of discovery. Queen fetched Kangana her second National Award — the first as lead actress. 

She has had minor reverses since then. Her Revolver Rani failed at the boxoffice. But it showed exactly why producers were increasingly willing to bet on her. “Despite the many reverses that I have faced, I have been fortunate that there are filmmakers around who have continued to bet on me. Both sides have benefitted in the bargain,” she says.

The list of directors throwing their lot behind her is growing. Kangana will be seen next in Vishal Bhardwaj’s World War II drama Rangoon and Hansal Mehta’s next film about a Gujarati immigrant in the US. She is also tipped to play the lead role in Ketan Mehta’s Rani Laxmibai biopic.

From playing Queen to donning the garb of Indian history’s most iconic Rani, Kangana Ranaut is clearly going places and entirely on her own terms.