Kangana Ranaut is right, Bollywood is scared of her

Her sharp tongue, no-nonsense attitude to men’s life and other related matters and above all, her no-punctuation-marks approach to what most of us consider decorous behaviour, has made Kangana a much-feared one-man-army in the entertainment industry where even the most intelligent actresses are supposed to flutter their eyelashes and giggle at the most witless braindead jokes of the (male) superstars. When she recently wondered aloud (Kangana does that a lot, much to the discomfort of those whom she is wondering about) if Ajay Devgn who sportingly did a cameo for Alia Bhatt ’s Gangubai Kathiawadi would do the same for her, Kangana was absolutely right. He would not. Ajay Devgn decided not to work with Kangana after they co-starred in a horrendous David Dhawan unfunny comedy Rascals where she was made to feel like a complete outsider. They even compelled her to wear a bikini for a completely unnecessary poolside sequence. Let’s not go into why Kangana was made to feel uncomfortable during the making of Rascals a film where Ajay Devgn and Sanjay Dutt played the title roles. Suffice it to say Kangana is not the kind of Hindi film heroine who would bat her eyelids for anyone. This refusal to kowtow, to scrape and bow to the leading men’s whims and ego has cost Kangana heavily. No A-lister hero is willing to work with her. But she’s okay with that. No kidding! She would rather work with a fine actor like Arjun Rampal than a bland disinterested superstar who walks in for a 9 am schedule at 1 pm, has lunch, then takes a nap, then gives two shots and heads home while the heroine cools her heels waiting for his Highness’ time and attention I am sure Kangana knows whom I’m talking about. I don’t agree with much of her opinion on her colleagues. But I am right up there with her when she mocks star kids with zero talent who get chance after chance after chance… just because a Karan Johar or a Sajid Nadiadwala is backing them. Many of the star children like Ranbir Kapoor , Alia Bhatt (Kangana’s favourite bete noire) and Kareena Kapoor Khan are deserving of the opportunities they get. But the rest…the less said the better. Kangana doesn’t believe in that: for her, the more said the better. And Good luck to her with that. Her new actioner Dhaakad is days away from release. Kangana playing a spy who came in from the cold is a badass kickass firecracker. Her stunts are to die for. As a female hero she holds up the film, conferring on it a sexy slickness and a never-say-die exhilaration.

Dhaakad’s co-producer Sohel Maklai tells me about how much Kangana has gone out of her way to support him and to make Dhaakad happen. Yes, there is a gentle sensitive side to Kangana Ranaut. But you have earn it to get to it. Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.