The Queen of Bollywood continues to reign

A National Award and a Rs.100-crore film. The spotlight is on Kangana Ranaut.

"In our films the underdog always ends up making it to the top. I am experiencing something similar. Shallow people get impressed by box office numbers and the intellectuals soak in the performance. Everybody is impressed," says Kangana, remarkably detached from all the attention she is getting.

New lessons

Life is much harder when you struggle, but Kangana says, success has come with its own lessons. "People who were nasty are nicer now. Those who used to talk about the feudal ways of the industry and a woman's limited shelf life are now showing their other side. They no longer try to tame you. Suddenly they seem perfectly fine people," she says, marvelling at the change of events.

However, she adds: "The power to choose results in responsibilities. It is a different kind of struggle now. The struggle of not repeating yourself. The struggle of not getting reduced to just a feminist icon." She knows it best. Even before Queen happened, she turned down Dirty Picture because it sounded familiar to Woh Lamhe and Fashion. "I will not do a double role again. I will not play a Haryanvi character again."

For now, Kangana is steering clear of stereotypes. Her next is Nikhil Advani's Katti Batti. Trailers suggest that she is playing a commitment-phobic girl in a romantic comedy with Imran Khan. "Payal doesn't believe in commitment. She tries to come across as cool but actually she is just the opposite. She wants to be in a serious relationship. The film seems like a romantic comedy but the way it unfolds, it is more of a romantic thriller." The treatment of female characters in films is a reflection of society, she feels. In the promo, when the boy asks for friendship, the girl says she is ready if he is not serious. Kangana says it in a matter-of-fact-way. "The female protagonist even mocks tradition and comes across as a morally vacant person. But there's more to it " it depends on the perspective with which you look at the character." She agrees Payal is "innocent, she's liberated, she's layered."

Talking about her craft, Kangana says has a "spiritual relationship" with her characters. That's how she was able to delineate Tanu from Datto. She maintains our films might show them only now, but Payals existed around us. "When you grow up you generate this defence mechanism. It's a don't-mess-with-me-attitude because it's a way to survive. I've done it. Being a single girl without a family to support and having started young, I realised people were taking me for a ride all the time. So I developed this cold demeanour. But inside, I am still that mountain girl who came to Mumbai via Delhi."

The role Delhi played

Delhi is the city where the girl from Mandi found her moorings in acting at Asmita theatre group. "For one or two years you are supposed to do backstage work, handing out costumes and queuing up actors. But Arvindji showed immense faith in me. I was asked not only to perform Madhavi [Bhisham Sahni's play] but play both the male and female parts. Seeing a packed auditorium was surreal. My memories of those days are hazy. I don't remember how I did it but I was not nervous."

Last year, amidst all the media frenzy around her, she took a break to join a two-month screenplay writing course at New York Film Academy. Can she take such a break again? "Of course. I like to remain detached from fame. It helps me focus on the characters I play and my life."

It is said she demands Rs. 11 crore as remuneration. "It's a contradiction to me. The idea is to change the way the industry looks at female actors. I was so badly humiliated and teased just because I belonged to a gentler sex. People would not have done it with a struggling male actor because they would wonder what if he becomes a big star one day. Now, they will be more careful. They will fear that if an aspirant becomes a Kangana Ranaut someday, she will not work with them. When I retire I will be relieved that I made a significant change in the way the industry looks at its women."

Well, the results have already begun to show. It is because Kangana said yes that Ketan Mehta's decade-old project on Rani Lakshmibai has finally been green-lighted!