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favourite “jinxed star”, he confided to me [in the course of
an interview] that things were just not working for him in
Bollywood. He had tried everything – even BandeHaath
with top director O.P.Ralhan and star heroine Mumtaz – but
to no avail … “and now I have this new release which could
well accelerate my nose-dive to doom! It’s a film where I
play a vendetta-crazed cop who frequently takes the law
into his own hands … and hardly ever smiles! Besides,
there is neither any romance nor music track – two essential
audience-friendly ingredients that provide the required
escapist quotient. Patanahin … I sometimes wonder
whether leaving my Kolkata job was a good idea. Maybe
this industry is not for me and I should return to my job …”
This was September 1973. The whole world knows what
happened to both Zanjeer and Amitabh Bachchan post the
release of the landmark film …!
Kangana Ranaut’s case appears somewhat similar.
Zero back story. No familiarity with Bollywood or filmy
connections. A total outsider to Glam & Glitzville. Launched
and starred – typecast? – in several movies, many of
which clicked with the audiences but without any specific
Kangana-connect! It was finally Tanu weds Manu which
provided the audiences with the first wake-up call regarding
Kangana’s bravura talent. It was of course the unsung,
unheralded Queen, the breakout sleeper hit of 2014 that
shook the living crap out of the Industry, trade, critics and
audience everywhere the fabulous film played! Attracting
thumping theatre footfalls in both multiplexes and singletheatre halls in big metros & tier-2 cities, Queen rocketed
North to zoom past the Rs.200 crore mark! This was
followed by Tanu Weds Manu Returns, where her amazing
double-role whammo[favourably comparable to both
Sridevi’sChaalbaaz and Kajol’sDushman] got the small film
grossing the highest opening weekend figure for year 2015!
What’s the secret of this plain, unpretentious, non-glam,
non-hot looking young actress with un-accented English
coming from a small town, middle-class family neither
quoting from the greats of Hollywood or esoteric authors and
poets so fashionable to Bollywood’s semi-literate? Close
observers believe that it has largely to do with the fact that
this grounded girl comes with no baggage and has never
considered herself to be one of the typical Bollywood’s glam
brigade living by their writ-in-stonecommandments.In fact,
she’s – by accident, co-incidence, design? – breezily slung
out each & every one of them and categorically proved rules
constrain; freedom liberates!
Bollywood publicists believe – like the old Hollywood
studios once did – that stars must have a solid, respectable
family environment and happy childhood story to tell their
fans, creating a warm glowing image of a together, secure
individual. In fact from the look of it, most actresses’ life
story seems to jump off Mother’s Day greeting cards – or a
Karan Johar/Suraj Barjatiya sanitised family saga! Kangy
did something unprecedented – threw political correctness
to the winds when she freely and frankly [in a televised
interview] spoke about her revolt with her dad, running
away from home, sister’s traumatic acid throwing incident,
everyday gender bias ruling our lives, her small town &

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