Kangana Ranaut
Some people are born with a mind of their own. They do not believe in being a stereotype, instead, they seek their own space and their own destiny.
Kangana was born into a fairy tale setting. She was brought up in a dream setting in a haveli in a small town in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. She had politics in her genes as her great grand father was a Member of the LegislativeAssembly and her grand father was a member of the Indian Administrative Service. As a child she questioned her father when he gifted her a doll while gifting a pistol to her brother! This spirit continued when she decided to go on her own in search of a career when her father refused to sponsor her further since she had nosey career goal in mind.
Looking for space, Kangana moved to Delhi and was taken on by a modelling agency. After a few assignments, she felt that modelling did not have much to offer to her in terms of creativity and she joined an acting school. After some positive response from the audience, she decided to move to Mumbai, trained at an acting school and got a proverbial break in Anurag Basu’s Gangster and Kangana had arrived!!
Between Gangster in 2006 to the biopic on Jayalalitha, Thalavi, scheduled for release in 2021, the girl from the small town in Himachal has dominated the world of cinema. Onone hand she has acted in a number of successful films like Rangoon, Krrish 3, Queen, Life in a Metro, Shootout at Wadala, Simran – in fact the past fourteen years have been dotted with hits after hits in the list of films in which she acted. She has performed her role as Tanu in the two part Tanu Weds Manu films with equal ease as her role as Nandita in Raaz- The Mystery Continues.
Her involvement with films does not end with her being an actor. She has even directed Manikarnika – The Queen of Jhansi and yet to be released, Aparajita Ayodhya, based on the Ram Mandir story.
What is important is to note that she has constantly received critical acclaim on her performances as critics and film writers of various hues have been extremely appreciative of her talents. Her performances have been constantly recognised by the industry, as she has been on the award list for NationalAwards and Filmfare Awards. In fact, that again is a long list. Consider, she is only 33 years of age!
Kangana has been in the forefront of breaking the stereotype situation where male actors dominate the casting and instead, created space for female actors in the industry. She is perhaps the highest paid actress in Bollywood and constantly moves into the eye of the storm.
She is as much in the news for the wrong reasons – personal relationships, political patronage – but in all situations she has been able to hold her own. But what stands out in her character is her love for personal freedom, her self motivation and the strength to stand up.. She is no powder puff brand but perhaps a source of great inspiration to women across the country.