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It no longer matters what others think of me: Kangana

Suhani Singh  NA, March 5, 2014 | UPDATED 15:07 IST
 

Kangana Ranaut is the hero of the much awaited queen, much like she has been in her own life. BY Suhani Singh

Kangana Ranaut has made quite a few strange decisions in her career. So in January 2014, when the 26-year-old actress packed her bags and spent a month in New York studying scriptwriting at the New York Film Academy, nobody should have been surprised. But still many found it foolish that she was vanishing from the scene at what many consider is a high point in her career. Last year, Ranaut earned plaudits for her role as the chameleon-like mutant Kaya in Krrish 3. '

Her upcoming film Queen highlights her range as an actor. But instead of revelling in this success, Kangna did what she wants to - her own thing. "I have been leading a very monotonous life, travelling a lot, living on sets and like a tourist in the best hotels," says Ranaut. "I needed a break. I crave standing in queues waiting for a bus, walking down a street, doing my own laundry and making my own meals. These are small pleasures and life in Mumbai doesn't allow for that. It is nice to be busy but sometimes you just want to stop and do different things." A screenwriting course in the Big Apple enabled Ranaut to fulfill her two pursuits: live an anonymous life and learn something creative. More recently, Ranaut has made headlines for her forthright answers and displaying rare poise in TV interviews. But she has always been like this, says Rangoli Chandel, her older sister who has also been her manager for the past three years.

Kangana Ranaut

"I don't know why people now say, 'Oh, she is so straightforward'," says Chandel, "but she has always been a fair person. Whatever is in her mind, she says. As a kid you are known to lie and defend, but she never used to lie." Growing up in Bhambla in Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh, Ranaut and her siblings, which include a younger brother Aksht, were not allowed to watch films. It didn't help there were no cinemas around. But Ranaut always stood out with her trendy sartorial sense. It was strange enough to make her father, Amardeep, address her as 'Lady Diana'. But her interest in fashion was never interpreted as harbouring ambitions of being an actress, says Chandel. Ranaut's parents expected her to opt for well-regarded occupations - doctor, engineer or an IAS officer - and she studied hard and scored high marks to fulfil that dream.

 But life took a different direction when she studied for two years in Chandigarh and stayed in a hostel. By 16, much to her parents' dismay, she had moved to Delhi and joined the Elite Modelling Agency. Amardeep, who is in the construction business, didn't favour a career in the movies for his daughter. Relations were strained as Ranaut refused financial support from her parents and decided to make it on her own. It didn't take her too long. At 17, director Anurag Basu would spot her at a café in Mumbai and grill her with 20 plus auditions before she'd land the leading part in his film Gangster (2006). Three years later, Ranaut would win the National Award for best supporting actress for her role as an outspoken and self-destructive model in Fashion. But Ranaut's career never lived up to the lofty expectations that people had from her after an impressive start. If she made an impression in Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai and Tanu Weds Manu, she was forgettable in the disastrous Rascals and Game. She has admitted she did a few movies to pay off EMIs. But Kangana, as her Tanu Weds Manu director and good friend Aanand L Rai says, has no regrets. "I don't have any expectations," says Ranaut.

Kangana Ranaut

"It's OK if I have shitty films in my filmography. This is not going to define me as a person anyway." When prodded about what would define her if not her work, she replies, "No one will ever know. It is for me as a person to know, enjoy and value. I am not a slave to someone's acknowledgement or approval. It doesn't matter to me what others think of me and I want it to be that way. Just being a successful actor is not the agenda of my life." It's this combination of self-assuredness, stubbornness, intrigue and honesty which has ensured that even as her films have flopped and been heavily criticised, Ranaut has survived. It's a feat of sorts in Bollywood, which can be especially hard on outsiders. It helps that Ranaut is not averse to the brickbats either. "Criticism can be quite humbling," she says. "I really don't mind it. So far things I have failed to see somehow, the critics have made me aware of them." That she is talented helps further to ensure the longevity of her career. It's a sentiment echoed by Vikas Bahl, director of Queen. "She may make wrong choices but she will always bounce back because she is such a good actor," he says. "The amazing thing about Kangana is that she has decided to become an actress but if she had pursued any other career she'd have been as successful. She is an extremely bright person and has a huge ability to absorb information.

I like to call her the Dhoni of movies. She comes from nowhere and she has made it happen." Ranaut has been in the industry for over nine years but her film graph is not as impressive as that of her peers such as Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif, who have enjoyed more fame and success on the box office front often by working opposite the biggest of actors. For a while, Ranaut was in the news more for her offscreen exploits including link-ups with Aditya Pancholi and Adhyayan Suman. On her part, Ranaut is aware of her inconsistent career but she believes she has done well for herself. "I came here as a raw teenager who didn't know what she wanted, and didn't have any skills and I have learned everything being a part of this industry," she says. "I definitely understand the value of acquiring skills and practicing and making yourself better. It is not to please others but I want to do what I want to do." Having control over one's life is clearly important to her. "Kangana is living life on the terms and conditions designed by her," says Rai. "And behind this actress, there is a woman growing beautifully." Rai mentions how Ranaut is unafraid of solitude and enjoys travelling and spending time with herself.

That explains the New York trip. More importantly, he says, Ranaut is a friend you can rely on. "If tomorrow I'm in trouble with something else which is not to do with films, she will be there," he says. "I know that I have a friendship which goes beyond films." Ranaut is conscious of a life beyond Bollywood. "I have not come here to be comfortable with the place or find happiness in this industry," she says. It doesn't faze her that she hasn't worked with the big banners, top-notch directors, the three big Khans or settled into the industry by having a camp who watches out for her. "I have done some films wherein I thought it would be great working with these socalled big banners but the experience of working with them was very bad and the outcome was bad as well," she says without naming anyone.

"There is no guarantee that the films you do with them are going to be good. So you didn't learn and they didn't even work. It is a loss-loss situation. I much rather do films which I enjoy and I get to evolve creatively." Queen is one such film. It gave Ranaut the opportunity to play a welletched character. "In Hindi films, usually female characters pop up for two scenes and then vanish and emerge suddenly," she says. "You end up sticking out like a sore thumb." With Queen, Ranaut is the titular character, the hero of the film. She essays the role of Rani, a young woman from Rajouri, who is spurned by her to-be groom at the altar. She embarks on a lifechanging journey when she goes on her honeymoon to Paris and Amsterdam, alone. Bahl describes Rani as a vulnerable character, whose intention "is not to make you laugh but you end up laughing at her".

Kangana was always the first choice for Rani, he adds, even though he didn't know the actor personally. "I needed a girl who could understand the character at a personal level as well as an actor," he says. "I didn't want Rani to be a caricature and I felt Kangna would be able to play it like a real person." On her part, Ranaut identified with the Ranis of the world. Ranaut ad-libbed during shooting and ended up with dialogue credit for the film. "I could quite relate to the low self-esteem phase that she was going through after being rejected," she says. "We come to a point where we think we are not good enough and don't deserve anything. I understand how needy one can get and how difficult it is to handle failure." She adds that while she shares the character's small town-origins it doesn't mean that she is like Rani. "She is low on self-esteem, full of self doubt and a bit conflicted," says Ranaut. "I was never docile and submissive like Rani. I never had confidence issues."

Bahl enjoyed the process of working with Ranaut on Queen, which was shot in 45 locations across 25 days on a limited budget. Ranaut would get her hair and make-up done in restaurants amongst diners and change in restaurant restrooms. Most of her collaborators such as Rakesh Roshan (Krrish 3) say that she is "not fussy at all". "If she picks good roles, she will go very far," he says. Roshan also noted that she is a "very family-oriented girl". Sister Rangoli concurs. Ranaut loves to celebrate festivals with her family and take them out for dinner. She gifted Rangoli an apartment as a wedding gift and bought one in Mumbai for her brother, who is a commercial pilot. "She's also helped friends who were short on money while they were buying houses," says Rangoli, who has been by her sister's side for a majority of her career. In this new phase of her career, Ranaut is under no compulsion to do roles for monetary gain. "She has taken only positives from all the low points," she says. "You need to learn from your experiences and Kangana is doing that and growing as a person. She has become spiritually and mentally strong." Miss Kangana Ranaut has decided that she will control her destiny and that self-awareness may just be the turning point in her career.

 

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