Kangana Ranaut spoke to film critic/journalist Mayank Shekhar at the Dainik Jagran’s Cinema Summit on Friday in Mumbai. Here are a few excerpt from their chat about the Future Of Heroine.
1. On why she never minces words…
It’s a conscious effort I make to tell the brighter side and the darker side. I don’t want to give a very hunky dory picture of my life. It is very easy to portray a fairytale, to make yourself the centre of the world, to portray yourself as being larger than life… almost God’s favourite child. It’s very difficult to put the real picture out there and be like I don’t know if I have been lucky or unfortunate.
2. On why heroines were never from film families until very recently…
I know a lot of people who are always being too protective of their women. It’s all about keeping them away from a lot of men, opportunities, glamour. They think the girls will get swayed, they will have affairs, men are going to treat them badly, men are going to have sex with them. Having sex for a man is about having fun, but for a woman it’s a bad thing. When it is an affair of a son, you will see so many men brag about it… that my son is this Casanova, what else will he do in his youth except for having multiple affairs. But when it comes to their girls, there are restrictions. How dare my girl get into films? How dare people see her in mini skirts? These are the petty reasons. I wish it was something else. It’s very ‘My girl is going to wear bikinis? No! Meanwhile wouldn’t mind 15 bikini clad women around me or my son.’
3. On ‘married heroines’…
A lot has changed from those days when people used to care about someone’s marital status or someone’s age. I don’t think that is of any consequence anymore. Of course there is a certain section of the society who will mock women for being older and of course, when you are young, you are mocked for being young. So that is there. But we can see the change around us. But a few years ago many women were forced to leave the industry even though they looked the same, there was no change in their appearance, they were just not accepted anymore.
4. On showbiz…
These extreme circumstances are a bit unsettling. I don’t know if I am a recipient of the magic or the victim of it. Because sometimes it hits you so suddenly, you are just never ready for it. To my surprise success often comes when you stop to hope for it. It’s very hard to come to terms with. The initial reaction is of rejection, you don’t know how to accept it. You don’t know what to do with it. By the time you get used to it, it’s gone.
5. On why she didn’t do Sultan…
Knowing today’s times, I am going to go for something that stimulates my mind otherwise I would be just sleeping through the film. In Sultan at that point of time, it was a great character for a girl to play, but I did not see anything for me in that. And coming from a double role space and doing so much more in my earlier films, I felt that why would I demote myself to something that’s not offering me as much. That’s why I didn’t do it.
6. On ‘1 word that describes Kangana’…
Brave.
7. On catharsis…
When I played a cancer patient in Katti Batti, I was suddenly exposed to my own mortality as a human being. And since then I have never been the same. A character can be extremely cathartic for you as well.
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