An open letter to Kangana Ranaut on her birthday

Dear Kangana, There was a time when you were actually very dear to me. When I saw you for the first time on screen in Gangster I saw an exceptional talent making her debut. I congratulated you. You were new. You were emotional. I was moved by your lack of affectation. You  spoke your mind, and never mind the diction. You were   one of your kind. We warmed up to each other instantaneously. You   shared the problems that you had with your co-stars. And you seemed to have a problem with all of them: Emraan Hashmi, Shiney Ahuja, Upen Patel, Prabhas… you name ‘em. I lent you   a sympathetic ear. I genuinely believed you were the wronged one. The first time we met was at the Marriott in Mumbai. We were supposed to meet for lunch. But I got delayed at Karjat on the outskirts of Mumbai where I had gone to meet my friend Sanjay Leela Bhansali who was shooting Saawariya. You didn’t mind postponing the lunch to the following afternoon. We met over  lunch for the first. I made the mistake of inviting Randeep Hooda also.  Randeep being Randeep (oozing intellectual superiority and extra knowledge) began to give you   gyan on how to conduct your career. You shut him up with, “I don’t   need advice from you.” The lunch went downhill from there. You   later vented your disapproval at my having invited a third party. Later, much later, when you were   shooting   with Randeep for Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, you two were friends. I was the common enemy. After the memorable(?) lunch my second encounter with your    temper tantrum happened when I was in Mumbai   for the premiere of   Saawariya. You and I spoke excitedly on the phone. We made plans to meet and chat in the evening at the premiere. I, a tad presumptuously told Sanjay that Kangana and I will sit together, so he can give away her passes to someone else. A few hours later you were at your shrill peak on the phone asking me what right I had to make a decision on your behalf, cancelling your invites passes, etc. I had never seen this roop of your   volatile personality. Your tone was a bit too much to take.  At the premiere that evening we barely acknowledged each other. As the number of people, you had a problem with increased, I found myself being one of them. When did I change from   Sir to Sir-dard? I think it was when Aditya Pancholi in a no hold- barred (taped) interview with me spoke out against you, accusing you of using him, his clout and his money, etc. He also gave out lurid details of your relationship which I had the sense to expunge from the interview. What  was  printed was enough to  damage  my relationship with you  permanently. You were  on the  phone weeping. I felt awful.  In hindsight I regretted the interview. Pancholi is not an individual I would support if the need ever arises again. Soon to my surprise I received a legal notice from you accusing me of all sorts of things that made no sense to me. It was a turning point in my affection for you. Later I got to know sending  legal notices is  a way of life for you . If you hadn’t received a legal notice from Kangana Ranaut, then you didn’t count. We stopped being friends after that.  Later when Hrithik Roshan reached out with documented evidence of his woes against you (including pictures), I kept a distance. Not because I was  scared  of getting  another love letter (legal notice).  But because by this time I knew this was not the Kangana Ranaut I once knew, the caring warm moohphat who kept a mannat for me when I was in trouble. In no time at all, I had become the trouble for you. As you turn a year older, I remember how I once really appreciated your blunt speak. You   would say exactly what you felt and didn’t care who it was . About one   of your leading men, now banished into oblivion, your comment was, “Dilli ke mithai ke dukaan wala lagta hai.” I still don’t know what it means. But I am laughing as I write about your description. Yes, Kangana you used to be fun. What happened  to you? I no longer know you. I wish you would stop commenting on your co-stars. It is just not right. Sure, you encountered scumbags on your way up. But please don’t hold them against the entire entertainment industry.