Kangana Ranaut calling Gehraiyaan 'porn' only reflects her limitations as an actor

Dear  Kangana Ranaut,

I know you like to have your say, come what may. Outspokenness is your birthright and signature tune. So when  you called out Shakun Batra ’s  _Gehraiyaan_  as trash and porn, I completely ratify your right to opinion.

But trash? Porn? Allow me to be bold enough to say, that is a bit over-the-top.

In a country where  _Pushpa_   dominates the box office , surely definition, concept, and boundaries of trash need to be seriously examined and redefined.  _Gehraiyaan_  is a film about an adulterous protagonist, in a manner of speaking, because neither of the two parties in the illicit relationship are married. They both are in live-in relationships with  other partners when they decide to have a fling on the sly together. Just like that.

I understand this is a very trashy situation for the conservatives. But Kangana, zamana badal gaya hai [the world has changed]. Girls no longer find it necessary to “settle down” to feel secure in their lives. Being single and in or out of a relationship is the new norm. We need to accept that. We also need to accept that unmarried girls do have  affairs before marriage. The concept of the Virgin Bride is as obsolete as landline phones and DVD players.

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Like her or not, Deepika Padukone ’s Alisha is a girl of today. As far as doing intimate scenes, which you refer to as ‘porn,’ is concerned, the sex sequences are so tame I wondered what the intimacy director had been called in for.

On a more serious note, if Padukone’s husband Ranveer Singh had no problems with his wife’s kissing scenes in  Gehraiyaan, who are we to go, “Haaaai! Shadi-shuda aurat aisa paraye mard ke saath kaise kar sakti hai?” [how can a married woman do it with another man?].

Kangana, you have played so many fractured characters yourself.

In your first film Gangster, you played an alcoholic and mistress to a gangster who jumps to her death at the end. Would that mean you were endorsing alcoholism, illicit affairs, and suicide?

In another outstanding performance in Fashion, you were a drugged-out fashion model… it was just a role. That is what acting is about.

You cannot play Jhansi Ki Rani and Rani Padmaavat all the time. Sometimes, you just have play to dark, undesirable, even loathsome characters. Someone has to do the ‘dirty job.’

Sincerely yours,

Subhash K Jha

Gehraiyaan is streaming on Amazon Prime Video India.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based journalist. He’s been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out.

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